Income growth reported to be the main motive for buying a home
Two-thirds (62%) of the residents of Latvia who would like to buy real estate name improvements in their personal finances to be the main motive for buying their own real estate, a survey conducted by the Ektornet real estate company and the TNS research agency shows.
‘The people have lived through an economic crisis and now evaluate much more responsibly the capacity of their family budgets before buying a home. This means that, for most of Latvia’s population, financial stability is more important than the need for owning a home. Meanwhile, the desire for owning a home is essential for almost a half of the respondents who currently rent the place they live in,’ notes the Ektornet CEO, Andris Kovalčuks.
The results of the survey show that the next most important factors that influence the desire to own a home are starting a family (22%) or a new addition in the family (18%). Other motives for purchasing real estate are the belief that it is an investment (18%) and the conviction that paying for a mortgage is better than paying rent (12%). At the same time, the motivating factor least reported by the respondents is the desire to move closer to town (1%).
The potential homebuyers surveyed are interested in the additional financial benefits offered in the process of purchasing real estate. 37% of the respondents would appreciate if the owner of the property would cover the 2% state duty and deal with all the formalities. Taking into account the people’s wishes, Ektornet does offer its clients to pay 2% of the purchase price as a state duty for reregistering the property.
The TNS client manager Intars Āboms comments on the results of the survey: ‘Research has shown that potential homebuyers view the possibility of purchasing real estate as an investment into the future.