Tallinn new-build prices top €5,000 per square metre: who the homes are built for

According to ERR's "AK.Nädal", new developments in Tallinn ask more than €5,000 per square metre. A cheaper 85-square-metre three-room flat in the Uus-Volta quarter is for sale at €460,000, and one floor higher it costs almost half a million. A parking space adds €25,000 and a storage unit €8,000. In Kalamaja's first high-rise, Estonia's most expensive apartment was sold in summer: a whole floor with 340 square metres and an almost equally large terrace went for nearly four million euros. Property analyst Tõnu Toompark says home deals above a million euros are exceptional but happen every month. About 70 percent of the flats under development are two- and three-room.

Uku Tint, development director at Endover, says the company has the biggest sales turnover among Tallinn developers this year, although the stock of unsold flats has also grown. Endover's client is the home-swapper who already owns a home and moves to a newer, better area. According to Tint, an average-wage earner with no home to sell must look for a family flat in Mustamäe or Lasnamäe, or in the fields beyond Tallinn's border where cheaper flats are appearing. Reigo Randmets, chief executive and owner of Reterra, has a rule of thumb: in the Rae fields you get one room more than at Hipodroom. About 1,000 flats, a kindergarten and a business quarter are planned for Hipodroom.

Buyers' expectations have changed. According to Randmets, flats are now bought more to live in than to rent out, and the choice is increasingly influenced by the surroundings: cars are routed underground or away from the buildings. Tint adds that clients have become very aware and look for quality, such as good indoor climate in terms of humidity and air exchange, but also green surroundings and a nearby gym. The city wants families with children in new quarters and requires flats of different sizes, and to cut construction costs fewer expensive parking spaces are allowed. Kristi Grišakov, head of a department at Tallinn's urban planning office, says large flats are often sold as a luxury product at higher prices. In the end it is the developer who sets the price of a home.

Toompark says the picture is not as bleak as browsing property ads suggests. Wages have recently grown faster than flat prices. By his calculation, the price of a two-room flat in Mustamäe or Haabersti, measured in average wages, is about the same as ten years ago: the feeling of prices being too high exists in the market, but the numbers do not confirm it.

Meanwhile the bank buildings in downtown Tallinn are looking for new uses. SEB is moving its head office near the port, LHV's new office is rising next to the old one and Swedbank has moved from Liivalaia Street to Arteri. Developers are asking whether homes could one day stand where home loans used to be issued. According to Grišakov, there is no active procedure yet on the SEB building, and it is such a special building that converting it to residential use would be interesting. The Swedbank building is one of the most difficult because of noise. On the plus side, schools and public transport are nearby, but since the area has been a workplace district, bringing in a residential feel and greenery is a challenge.

An awkward question is whether there will be enough residents for all these homes in future. Grišakov notes that the populations of Tallinn and Estonia are no longer growing significantly and new generations are not having children at the old pace, so it is worth asking for whom and how many homes are being built.

According to the business register, Endover OÜ had revenue of €14.3 million in 2025 and a profit of €9.8 million (2024: €2.8 million), with 25 employees. Reterra Estate OÜ had revenue of €21.6 million and a profit of €2.6 million (2024: €9.5 million), with 16 employees. OÜ Merko Kodud, the development arm of the Merko group, founded in 2023, earned a profit of €4.3 million on revenue of €33.1 million. Hepsor AS's own revenue was €91,000 in 2025 (2024: €38.4 million) with a loss of €979,000, and Arco Vara AS had revenue of €1.4 million and a profit of €2.0 million. The Hepsor and Arco Vara figures are those of parent companies, and much of the development activity sits in project companies, so they are not directly comparable between developers.