Featured property - HLL Humberts Leisure

International | The Baltic Tigertiger! tiger!burning brightSWEDENESTONIALeisure & commercialopportunitiesand the ‘Baltic Tiger’An excitinginvestmentopportunityin Vilnius,LithuaniaHLL Humberts Leisure and UABRestalita are instructed to offer theopportunity to purchase off plan 32new apartments in a prestigious newsuburban settlement located north of theVilnius city centre, Lithuania.For sale off plan from £91,000■ 1 & 2 bedrooms, fully fitted,■ Leisure spa/health & fitness/pool &shopping■ Full management service■ 2 year interest free mortgages to 75%for qualifying buyersContactNigel Talbot-Ponsonby FRICS, Londone: ntp@humberts-leisure.comt: +44 (0)20 7629 6700Andrew Bates MRICS, Winchestere: andrew.bates@humberts-leisure.comt: +44 (0)1962 835 960DENMARKGERMANYPOLANDLATVIALITHUANIAVilniusBELAREver conscious of not resting on their mainlyUK based professional laurels HLL has castits net to the emerging market known asthe ‘Baltic Tiger’. This move has been clientled and followed detailed due diligenceon the economies of the three countries,namely Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia thatcollectively make up the Baltic States.Until the early 1990’s the Baltic States had formed part of the Soviet Block and little was heardof these intrinsically west orientated countries. However, following freedom from the Sovietyoke, the respective governments quietly went about the business of realigning their economiesto free market models which, in 2004, resulted in their accession to the European Union. Thisin many senses was a welcome acknowledgement of the countries’ coming of age in a modernglobal economy.Since accession to the EU the three economies have progressed with even more vigour andGross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics are the envy of many of its more mature Europeanneighbours. In addition, interest rates and local currencies are pegged to the Euro which furtherunderwrite and encourage incoming commercial enterprise.In parallel with this economic boom, real estate values have advanced in leaps and bounds,particularly since 2004, and the concept of freehold ownership has been understood andgrasped with both hands. At an early stage in Lithuania, the government sold freeholds tothe former soviet apartment tenants and this has resulted in an established residential marketwhich is virtually 90% owner occupied.Commercially, Vilnius the capital, has witnessed a number of state of the art shopping centresemerge, all boasting designer labels and Bond Street shop fronts. Leisure businesses have alsocome to the fore and there is now a critical shortage of hotel accommodation in the capital withair lines responding to increased customer demand by continuing to open up new routes.HLL Humberts Leisure is advising on a number of fronts bringing to bear specialist knowledgeand experience in the leisure and commercial sectors of the real estate market. Excitingprospects for investors and operating clients are there to be grasped and HLL is assisting inpromoting these opportunities in a small way. Interestingly, the Baltics show many similaritiesand parallels to the Irish economy at an equivalent moment in time following their entry intothe EU. The rest, as they say in the movies ‘is history…’ContactNigel Talbot-Ponsonby FRICS, Londone: ntp@humberts-leisure.com t: +44 (0)20 7629 6700Andrew Bates MRICS, Winchestere: andrew.bates@humberts-leisure.com t: +44 (0)1962 835 96034 Spring 2007