The beginning of 2013 has surpassed even most optimistic forecasts – real estate development and trading group Pillar made 117 property sale transactions during Q1 this year, which amounts to almost half of all transactions made last year.

The customers' activity has grown in respect of all residential property segments – premium class, new projects, and existing homes. Among properties sold in Q1, 32 were the apartments in new projects, and 21 of those were in the projects developed by Pillar, including 9 premium class apartments in Elizabetes Park House project. Also there were 81 apartments in existing homes sold.

The total amount of Pillar transactions in Q1 reached EUR 10.6 million.

Evaluating the achieved results, Pillar Chief Executive Officer Ieva Valtere noted: “The performance over three months evidences recovery of the real estate market. The customers’ requirements to quality of the residential property are growing, which is the main reason for new project development performed by us. The beginning of the year shows that our expected business growth will be even surpassed this year. The great results are also facilitated by successful company rebranding and launching of modern and convenient home page.”

The customers highly appreciated Pillar work on developing new projects, and therefore virtually all apartments in various projects – Elizabetes Park House, Mārtiņa Nams 2, and Pine Breeze – were sold during the year.

Considering customer demand, in March this year Pillar started renovation of apartment block in Dzirciems, at 32 Dārza Street in Riga – Dārza Apartment House. This property was purchased by EUR 4 million and Pillar plans to invest in the renovation EUR 1.1 million in total.

Our development plans also include a number of other new projects, for example, financial and business centre New Hanza City, apartment block Lielezeres Apartment House, renovation of premium class apartment block Miera Park House in Riga, at Miera Street, as well as several small individual projects. More information about Pillar and offered properties can be found on our home page www.pillar.lv.

Pillar Holding Company, KS, is owned by the largest private bank in Latvia – ABLV Bank, AS, and it includes ABLV Group companies that operate in the field of real estate development, management, and trade. Pillar holds one of the largest real estate portfolios in Latvia, which comprises apartment blocks, apartments, private houses, land and commercial properties. In total, Pillar supervises more than 1200 properties worth about EUR 85.4 million. So far the company has invested the total of EUR 12.4 million in renovation of properties.

         Jānis Bunte
         
         PR Specialist
         ABLV Bank, AS
         Tel.: +371 6777 5432
         E-mail: janis.bunte@ablv.com