RIGA, Jan 2 (LETA) - This year, real estate prices are likely to continue rising, Andris Boze, a board member of housing developer and construction company YIT Latvija, told LETA.

He points out that Latvian housing prices are still 30-40 percent lower than in Lithuania or Estonia, and if the economic environment is stable, prices can be expected to logically approach Baltic levels. Boze predicts that this will not be a leap, but a predictable development, which also corresponds to the income level of the economically active population.

One of the challenges Boze mentions is construction costs and planning bureaucracy. The complex and time-consuming approval procedure continues to hinder both large and medium-sized projects, makes development more expensive and discourages investors from investing in the Latvian market. To develop not only projects, but also an environment where people want to live, a quality dialogue between the industry, the state and local authorities is needed, believes Boze.

Given that last year the real estate sector managed to break out of the stagnation experienced in previous years, Boze is generally optimistic about 2026. YIT Latvija's main goals for 2026 are to develop projects with high added value, strengthen its position in the regions and continue to advocate for the improvement of the sector, including participation in the future development of Riga's neighborhoods.

As reported, YIT Latvija's turnover in 2024 was EUR 35.246 million, which is 2.4 times more than in 2023, while the company's profit increased by 47 percent and amounted to EUR 2.83 million, according to Firmas.lv.

YIT Latvija was registered in 1998 and has a share capital of EUR 47,429,278. YIT Latvija is owned by the Finnish company YIT Housing.

YIT operates in eight countries - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden and Poland. The company's turnover in 2024 reached EUR 1.8 billion. YIT Corporation shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.