In Q3 2022, investment volume in Latvia reached EUR 45 million, driven by smaller (< 5 mln EUR) transactions. The largest transaction: Eika's acquisition of retail property on Grostonas Street in Riga, occupied by Maxima, Lemon Gym, and Pepco.
The office market showed increasing demand after a relatively quiet summer where the Verde office complex (Class A; stage I), developed by Capitalica entered the Riga market with 78% of pre-leased space by Decta, KPMG, Workland, and Swisscom. More than 140,000 sqm of GLA remains under construction, of which approximately 90% will be added to the market next year.
Retail market. Tenants in the grocery segment continue to remain active. Lidl is proceeding with construction work on multiple new stores, while SPAR opened its first store in Liepāja and Saldus, along with plans to open up to 200 stores over the next five years.
Industrial market: two major objects - Ulmaņa Parks II and the second part of Rumbula Logistics Park Stage 2 were completed, adding over 33,000 sqm of new warehouse space.
In Q2 2022, investment volume in Latvia reached EUR 85 million.
Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and high market uncertainty, the market was less active in March-April as some deals were revoked. Acquisition of SC Damme by Summus Capital was the largest deal of the quarter, followed by Lumi Capital’s acquisition of Indi Centrs (Class B Office Building).
In Q2 2022, construction of several industrial projects was completed in Riga region, including the new Orkla Biscuit and Wafer Factory (23,000 sqm), the MDL warehouse in the Airport area (8,800 sqm), the Deposit System Operator building, and stage I of the Mežlīdes stock office complex.
In Q2 2022, the Riga retail market remained active, seeing acquisition of former industrial sites close to the city centre by VPH with the goal of developing a new retail property by end of 2024. Q2 was the first full quarter after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and several malls managed to regain 2019 footfall figures. Overall, retail market sentiment has improved with growing demand seen from both existing and new market players.
In Q1 2022, total investment volume in Latvia exceeded EUR 75 million, with several notable investment transactions and half of the activity again observed in the retail segment. The rental residential segment continues to gain momentum – LHV acquired 5 rental apartment buildings (3 of them newly built in 2021) with more than 100 apartments in total for EUR 9 million in the Avoti district. Significant activity was also observed in the development segment with more than EUR 35 million spent on development properties.
In Q1 2022, the Riga industrial market has been quiet, no new projects were started and no notable projects finished. For now, construction of development projects (GLA >180,000 sqm) continues, while no new developments were planned to start around this time.
The professional retail objects continued to change owners and improve their strategies. K3 Imanta Mall (also known as Imantas Tirgus) was acquired by Green Formula Capital, while the recently-acquired SC Alfa was renamed as SC Akropole Alfa (the existing SC Akropole is now SC Akropole Rīga).
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