Residents of Latvia are lent half as much as Estonians – is there a lack of trust? 0 12

"This is a historical fact. Real estate prices in Estonia have always been and remain much higher than in Latvia and Lithuania. Despite the increase in average salaries, real estate prices in these neighboring countries still remain lower. Tallinn has always been more expensive than Riga and Vilnius," said Marina Larkova, head of the housing loan sales department on ETV+.

She added that in Estonia, the share of loans issued for the purchase of new housing is much higher.

"There are more new buildings in Estonia than in Latvia. There are quite few of them there. Mostly they are located in Riga and its suburbs. In Lithuania, the market is more active, but it is still far from Estonia in this regard. While new houses used to be predominantly built in Tallinn, we now have a very active market in Tartu and Pärnu, and the suburbs of the capital are expanding further and further," she noted.

Larkova added that in Estonia, the activity in the housing loan market remains very high, and banks are competing for clients.

In the first quarter, the average amount of a new housing loan in Estonia was 131,313 euros, which is almost 2.2 times more than in Latvia, where this figure was 59,984 euros. The average amount of new housing loans in the bank's portfolio in Lithuania decreased to 83,936 euros.