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Here is some advice on where to buy in Tallinn, Estonia - i I were thinking of buying in Tallinn (I already have)...
City Centre and Old Town
First, the Old Town (see map 2 below) will continue to hold its value. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, hugely popular with tourists, well supplied with a variety of good quality restaurants, cafes, bars, craft shops, high end clothes shops and other amenities, and is close to the harbour not to mention the seat of Governmental power. What’s more people actually live and work there.
The ‘Kesklinn’ (City Centre, also called the ‘Südalinn’) similarly will retain its prominence and, whilst prices took a greater bashing here during the 2008-2010 slump than in the Old Town, is of key significance, containing as it does not only Tallinn’s Central Business District, but more entertainment outlets, foreign embassies and a large number of residents.
Add to that the district of Kadriorg, to the east of the Kesklinn, with its leafy, evocative streets, fine old housing, and the Palace built for Catherine the Great, not to mention the President’s residence, and you already have a large, contiguous area of desirable housing with strong rental potential. In fact, the three areas noted above come under the one administrative area as far south as the Ülemiste Järv (see map 2) which is the Tallinn city lake, and cover 28 square kilometres in total.
But these areas have already arrived, so to speak. Whilst developments in the Kesklinn in particular look set to continue, such as the new Finance Ministry at Suur Ameerika, and there is plenty of scope for refurbishment work in all areas, it seems unlikely that there is to be any radical transformation here. That process has already happened, stretching back the 20 years since Estonia’s independence.
Emerging Districts
Now to the districts of Tallinn showing promising signs for investors. Again, these are largely adjacent to one another and can thus be treated as a single entity for our purposes. Essentially they comprise the ‘Sadam’ harbour area (see map 1 below) stretching westward along the waterfront along the ‘Culture Kilometre’ (a popular cycling and jogging route) to Kalamaja. This stretch is set for a lot of exciting development in the coming years, both residential (that process has already started with the quality new housing in the Jahu and Suur-/Väike-Paterei streets) and commercial. One recent development which has already happened is the newly refurbished Seaplane Harbour, which includes dry docks, Seaplane Hangars dating back to the late Tsarist time which hold a museum, and vessels of historical interest.
Kalamaja itself is similarly already experiencing a renaissance. It largely comprises character wooden houses, mostly around a century old but here have been some tasteful new builds constructed along the same lines, as well as new, more modern builds. The Kalamaja effect is spreading southwards to neighbouring Pelgulinn (where I live), which has similar housing stock and is quiet and family friendly, yet still a stone’s throw from the Old Town, eventually dovetailing into the borders of the more-established Kristiine suburb. The Kassisaba district (close to the British embassy) has seen construction and refurbishment activity aplenty recently as well (e.g. at Adamsoni 33).
Returning to Kalamaja, the border that separates it from Pelgulinn, demarcated by the goods rail line to Kopli, host what is really the hub of this new revival – the so called bohemian quarter. This comprises three of the hippest restaurants in town, Kukeke, run by the same people who are behind the successful Komeet restaurant in the Solaris centre, F-Hoone (literally ‘building F’) which are both in former light industrial buildings, and the more established Boheem cafe close to the station.
Other good quality refreshment outlets abound, and we have to mention the nearby Asian Cafe on Kopli 4c close to the central train station, which offers tasty Indian, Chinese and Thai-style food for those in a hurry and at good prices.
Moreover this area is set to be the new alternative theatreland, with a theatre accomodating a good couple of hundred seats slated for construction next year.
Lastly, this effect may well spread Northwards throughout the Kopli peninsular (see map 1) over the longer term. The Kopli peninsular, once the site of aristocratic hunting forests, today displays very mixed use, with various commercial docks including the Bekker port, the HQ of BLRT, a shipbuilding company, plenty of old wooden workers cottages, office space, parkland and the magnificent Estonian Maritime Academy building. Beyond this at the tip of the peninsular lies the Paljassaare nature reserve, which is excellent for birdwatching and its natural environment in general, all year round.
Rough per square metre price of districts
As regards prices, please note that in Estonia prices are often cited in terms of Euros per Square metre (and before 2011, Kroons per Square metre). There are pluses and minuses to this system. One advantage is obviously getting a quick idea of whether or not a property is overpriced or not by comparing its per Square metre price with that of the average for that area. On the other hand sometimes it ends up comparing apples with oranges - a large family home is intrisically different from a studio flat wihch in turn is quite different from office space (the prices below reflect only residential - obviously most office space in Tallinn will be rented anyway).
Moreover the condition in which apartments are in varies hugely, although Estonians will tend to put a huge hike on asking prices (estate agents here still tend to let the buyer set their own price, which is daft) if a property has been remonted, so you have been warned.
A rough breakdown for average buying prices of the districts mentioned is as follows (at the time of writing):
Old Town: 2 000 – 3 000 Euros/Square metre.
Kesklinn (excluding Old Town), Kadriorg: 1 800 Euros/Square metre.
Kristiine: 1 300 Euros/Square metre.
Kalamaja, Pelgulinn: 1 100 Euros/Square metre.
Kopli: 800 Euros/Square metre.
As a rule of thumb, rentals will be at least 10 Euros/Square metre in the Old Town (and somewhat more than that for well-appointed properties) falling to around 6 or 7 Euros/Square metre further from the centre. Don't pay significantly more than this for a rental property, although at the time of writing it was not a renters market since there is a great shortage of rental properties (the flipside is there's a glut of properties for sale so it is a buyers market in that sense).
Hope this was interesting and useful, give me your feedback!
Maps (click to enlarge).
Map 1: Area to Northwest of Central Tallinn,
including Kalamaja and Kopli peninsular.
Map 2: Old Town (Vanalinn), City Centre,
Pelgulinn and Kristiine (Lillekülla).
Map 3: Tallinn City.
