Foreigners Made One-Third Fewer Real Estate Transactions, Sales Exceed Purchases
Foreigners sold twice as much real estate in Estonia in the first half of 2025 as they purchased, continuing the trend of recent years. However, the total number of their transactions has decreased by more than one-third over the past six months.
According to data from Kinnisvara24's statistics center and the Land Board, foreigners conducted a total of 906 real estate transactions in Estonia in the first half of this year, of which 321 were acquisitions and 585 were sales. Although sales transactions continue to exceed purchase transactions by a factor of 1.8, this ratio has decreased slightly compared to the second half of 2024.
However, it is noteworthy that the total number of foreigners' transactions has decreased by as much as 37.5% compared to the previous half-year. The sharpest decline in foreigners' real estate transactions occurred in Tartu County, Lääne County, and Saaremaa, where the decline reached 40-60% compared to the second half of the previous year. Meanwhile, Pärnu County saw 12% more transactions this year.
"The most active foreigners on the Estonian real estate market continue to be Finns and Russians, most of whom are converting apartments and houses acquired favorably in previous decades into cash," described the main foreign transaction makers Kinnisvara24 CEO Urmas Uibomäe.
Regional differences are clearly evident
By the number of foreigners' transactions, Harju County is in the lead with a total of 521 acquisition and sales transactions, followed by Ida-Viru County with 258 and Pärnu County with 109 transactions. The largest share of foreigners' transactions in the local real estate market is in Ida-Viru County (6.0%) and Lääne County (3.5%).
"Foreigners' transactions are geographically very diverse and follow clear patterns. In Ida-Viru County, Russians dominate, accounting for 66% of all foreigners' sales transactions. In Lääne County, Swedes are the most active, accounting for 65% of acquisitions and 71% of sales transactions. In Saaremaa and Pärnu County, Finns continue to dominate," explained Uibomäe.
As an interesting exception, Lääne-Viru County stands out, where a significant portion of real estate purchases were made by citizens of Japan and Singapore (22% each), and Rapla County, where US citizens made up 67% of all foreigners' purchases.
Elderly Finns selling country houses
Almost one-third of transactions made by foreigners are made by Finns, which this year accounts for nearly 1.8% of all Estonian real estate transactions. Finns are active in almost all counties. For example, in Saaremaa and Muhu, northern neighbors who own real estate have sold 36 apartments and houses, which constituted as much as 82% of the sales transactions made by foreigners there. Finns also actively sold in Harju County (109 transactions), Pärnu County (45), Tartu County (39), Ida-Viru County (23), Lääne County (22), and Viljandi County (18). However, there were also Finns among the buyers. Most real estate was acquired by them in Harju County (24 transactions), Pärnu County (13), Viljandi County (11), Tartu County (7), and Ida-Viru County (5).
"The sales activity of Finns has been driven by both economic reasons and the advanced age of many owners, which has made caring for real estate in Estonia burdensome for them. Country houses in Saaremaa and apartments in various Estonian cities, acquired very favorably in previous decades, can now be sold to locals again with great profit," noted Uibomäe.
According to him, many Finns invested in new developments in our capital and resort towns even during the coronavirus period in hopes of obtaining high rental yields, now they are more likely being realized. One reason is also that the Finnish economy is not doing very well at the moment, and during difficult times, investments abroad are abandoned to raise money.
Russians selling and Ukrainians buying
Another large group of real estate market traders is Russian citizens, a large part of which consists of local Russians with residence permits. Residents of the Russian Federation were already trying to find ways to get rid of real estate in Estonia two years ago, as they were unable to travel here as citizens of an aggressor country. Now transactions are made mainly by Russian citizens living in Estonia, and they too are primarily selling. In Ida-Viru County, 118 real estate objects were sold by them in the first half-year, in Harju County 86, in Pärnu County 11, and in Lääne-Viru County 9 apartments or houses. Most new real estate was acquired by Russian residents in Harju County (40) and Ida-Viru County (5).
However, a rather significant development is the growing desire of Ukrainians to purchase real estate in Estonia. "Statistics show that since last year, more and more refugees see their future in Estonia and wish to acquire a permanent home here instead of a rental apartment," noted Uibomäe. Of the real estate acquired by foreigners in Harju County, 8% is from Ukrainians, in Pärnu County 14%, and in Ida-Viru County 8%. According to Uibomäe, the total number of these transactions is not very large, but it still indicates a trend.
Buying a new home instead of investing
The reasons for foreigners' real estate acquisition are also changing. "Especially in Harju County and Tartu County, foreigners buy real estate no longer purely for investment purposes, but because they work or study here, or see a good opportunity for business activities in Estonia. Estonia's digital environment and e-residency program have certainly played an important role in this," added Uibomäe.
Although the sales pressure from foreigners seems to be decreasing somewhat, according to Uibomäe, it is unlikely that we will see a situation in the coming years where foreigners buy more real estate in Estonia than they sell. For Finns and Russians, the realization of previously purchased real estate will likely continue, while new buyers are increasingly connected to Estonia through work.
