Mārtiņš Vanags

Moderator: Mārtiņš Vanags, Managing Director, The Alliance of Real Estate Developers Is it the case that previously home buyers looked only at the amount of the mortgage payment, but now they are looking also at the utility costs? Have energy efficient residential projects benefited from the rising energy costs? Have the rising gas and heating costs made the Soviet-era housing even more obsolete? What about new office developments – how do you solve a situation when you have an office tenant with a fixed lease rate, but an open book construction contract? And the construction prices have risen by 40%. Is it realistic for the rent prices in office and industrial developments to fully reflect the corresponding rise in construction costs? How big is the pressure on tenants in terms of electricity and heating expenses? Are you perhaps planning to ask for rental rate reduction to compensate for the rising utility costs? Is everybody – customers, tenants, clients – ready to pay more to cover the rising energy and construction costs? Do they have a choice?