Pärnu property prices not yet affected by Rail Baltic delay

Real estate professionals in Pärnu, the Estonian resort city known as the summer capital, say that moving the Rail Baltic completion deadline to 2032 has not yet shown up in local property prices. Rail Baltic is the planned railway line meant to link the Baltic states. The deadline has been pushed back before, but businesses and residents hope to be able to take a train from Tallinn to Pärnu by 2032.

Ingmar Saksing, a real estate agent at LVM Kinnisvara, says investors have already built the delay into their plans. He notes that interest is growing in the area where a terminal will be built, as happened around Ülemiste in Tallinn, and prices there are higher than before.

Hotel project continues

The Part spa hotel is due to be finished by next autumn and will add 450 hotel beds to Pärnu. Sari Sopanen, head of the large development project, says the railway delay has not altered the hotel's plans, though completion of Rail Baltic would certainly help attract more customers. In her view, a link to two international airports, in Tallinn and Riga, would be a very big advantage for the industry.

Prices rising steadily

Over the past decade, property prices in Pärnu, inflation included, have risen by two to three percent a year. The Rail Baltic delay has not triggered any major jumps in either direction. Terje Võrk, a real estate agent at Arco Vara, says people weigh other reasons much more heavily when deciding where to live, and a railway arriving in Pärnu does not mean everyone will want to move there; some may simply come for the day and return home in the evening.

New housing developments have appeared in several parts of the city in recent years. Saksing welcomes this, since once supply appears, demand follows. In total, 400 apartments are under construction and on offer, and at the current pace selling them will take up to two years, provided no more are added.