Estonian Housing Market Analysis: Quantitative and Qualitative Insights

Fast development of the real estate market and impacts of crashes and real estate value on the economy and consumption, and ways how to mitigate them have become topical issues in Estonia since the residential as well as housing loans markets were, as a result a fast economic growth, overheated by 2006. The article seeks to analyse development of the housing market in Estonia, evaluate the current situation and prognosticate potential development trends using both quantitative and quantitative methods of research. Economic indicators that show the possibility of a boom in the Estonian housing market are fast economic and loan volume growth, liberal loan conditions, taking larger credit risks, low interest rates, overpriced properties and positive expectations for the future. To evaluate the market situation we have used analysis of market trends, regression and SWOT analyses. The qualitative analysis for the study of property markets focuses on actors' perceptions and understandings of property values. The (potential) residents' preferences are assessed against their capacity to construct individual strategies based on the synthesis of multifaceted species of capital at their disposal obtained in fields of their conduct. The qualitative study enables to observe individuals' experiences over extended periods of time by combining the analysis with processes at the market and in the society at large.