Tuesday, 20 May 2008

The bubble's bursting?

Headline in today's 'Lietuvos Rytas' newspaper suggests that Lithuanian house prices might fall by as much as 30% - already, it seems, newly built apartments are being sold with a 'discount' of 20%.

That was a problem waiting to happen. Prices had shot up in the last five years to a level which had no relation to people's incomes. Whole new neighbourhoods are mushrooming all over Vilnius - in a country where the population is shrinking. Or perhaps the population of Vilnius is growing?

Maybe now houseprices will connect a bit with reality. Bit of a pain for those of us who have mortgages attached to our homes; let's hope we get through this - eventually things will bottom out.

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