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Rental Housing Market in Riga: Price Determinants and Lesson Keys of Helsinki


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The research focuses on the rental housing market in Riga and reveals that among factors that affect the rent level in neighbourhoods of Riga the most are distance from the city centre, neighbourhood safety, quality of housing and transport infrastructure, access to shopping malls, and employment opportunities. The aim of the research is to analyse the housing market in Riga, by putting a special focus on price determinants and lesson keys of Helsinki. Quantitative and qualitative research methods are used in the paper with the biggest contribution being extraction and analysis of data about more than 1800 rental apartments in Riga from the largest Latvian online real estate advertisement platform. Quantitative analysis is based on investigating relationships between average rent levels in different neighbourhoods of Riga and index values of 23 urban environment factors. In addition, the rental housing market in Helsinki is researched, emphasising few guidelines for rental housing market improvements in Riga, such as introducing government subsidies.