Riga, Latvia, 2016-02-08 10:02 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
For Pillar, a company operating in the field of real estate development and trade, 2015 was a year full of changes when reorganization took place in order to start a new working stage, and the number of supervised properties significantly reduced. In the past year, stability and moderate growth returned to the real estate market; therefore, Pillar can announce good performance as well.
In 2015, Pillar concluded 373 real estate deals for a total of EUR 18.1 million. In comparison with 2014, the number of real estate deals fell by half due to the significant reduction of the supervised real estate portfolio, namely, the number of the properties reduced from 730 to 420 in a year.
In 2015, Pillar managed to double the sales of detached houses and land plots, i. e. б the company sold 90 detached houses and 32 land plots. As to the apartments, 203 were sold in total: 118 in Riga and 85 outside the city. The company sold 37 apartments located in new and renovated projects. Moreover, in 2015 the last available apartment in Elizabetes Park House premium class building was sold as well.
As one of the most significant events in the past year, the company names the completion of Miera Park House apartment block located on 57a, Miera Street, Riga. Pillar acquired the building from the subsidiary of SEB banka for EUR 2.4 million in the beginning of 2013. The reconstruction and finishing expenses reached EUR 5.8 million. Several clients already had a chance to evaluate the quality of the project as 25% of all available premium class apartments have their owners.
When analysing the past year, Ieva Valtere, CEO at Pillar, said, “Last year, the main task for us was the structural reorganization of Pillar group companies. We set ourselves a goal to properly structure and divide the duties between the group members bearing in mind the next stage of Pillar activity, which mainly concerns the development of our large-scale project, New Hanza City (NHC). Currently, the main trends on the housing market are stability, constant demand, and availability of loans. We also would like to outline the growing popularity of ALTUM, the state programme supporting families with children. Housing prices in the most popular segments are stable, which is also due to people’s unwillingness to keep savings in cash only. However, the activity of developers lowers, as they put their business plans on hold due to the amendments to the immigration law. Accordingly, there is less engagement in the construction industry as well. As to changes in housing prices, judging by the information available, no draft laws or amendments to the bank lending policy, which could dramatically shift the prices, are anticipated. The housing demand in popular areas is also stable, so we believe that the supply / demand ratio will be equal to the one in 2015.”
Hard work of Pillar Architekten, SIA (previously, Schaller Kyncl Architekten Riga), a member of Pillar group, resulted in another major achievement at the very end of 2015, i. e., the construction projects of ABLV Bank headquarters, multifunctional office building and engineering communications were approved. Therefore, first construction works involving the installation of engineering communications on the NHC territory will start already in the second quarter of 2016. Within a year, it is planned to build a network of streets and install a water supply system, sewerage system, heat and energy supply systems on the adjacent territory of the above-mentioned buildings.
Our portfolio of renovated properties features such special projects highly valued by clients as Elizabetes Park House, Miera Park House, Saules Rasa, Pine Breeze, Mārtiņa Nams 2, Liesmas Apartment House, Dārza Apartment House, Lielezeres Apartment House and others. The quality of our work is ascertained by the demand as the major part of the above-mentioned properties is already sold. For more information about Pillar and real estate offers, visit our website www.pillar.lv.
Pillar group, established in 2008, is owned by the largest private bank in Latvia ABLV Bank, AS and it includes companies that operate in the field of real estate development, management, and trade. Pillar group includes Pillar Management, SIA, Pillar Holding Company, KS, New Hanza City, SIA, and other companies. In total, Pillar supervises about 420 properties worth approximately EUR 52 million. So far, the company has invested a total of EUR 20 million in renovation of properties. Since 2013, Pillar has been the major sponsor of the Annual Award in Latvian Architecture organized by the Latvian Association of Architects.
Jānis Bunte
PR Specialist
Tel.: +371 6777 5432