Apartment prices on the rise for years, most expensive ones sold most easily

This year, the most expensive apartment sold in Serbia is located in Savski Venac, and it cost EUR 1.22 million. That Belgrade municipality features the highest prices per square meter. They go over EUR 10,000, and a garage space in Vracar costs as much as EUR 73,000, according to the data of the Republic Geodetic Authority. And those who sell apartments say that the prices have been growing for years now, but that the most expensive ones find a purchaser more easily, without bargaining.

If you want to live in Belgrade or some other bigger city, it will cost you more. However, in these times when savings in banks look more like keeping money in a safe than an investment, real estate is in demand.

– The purchase has become a matter of security, but also an inflow of capital, here. The profit rate is some 5-6% on an annual level. Let’s say that, in twenty years, that purchase pays off, and as for the amount of money, where does the money come from? First you couldn’t put it anywhere if you had a surplus of it. Then there was a certain amount of payments from abroad. By this I primarily mean a certain number of Ukrainians, Russians and Arabs as well – said Milic Djokovic, a court valuer of real estate.

Prices of luxury apartments in Novi Sad and Nis go up to half a million euros

While, when it comes to smaller apartments, potential purchasers pay attention to the price and the floor area the most, luxury real estate is bought apiece, and the price is dictated by the design, the equipment, the location. There’s no bargaining there, and the payments are made mostly in cash. Such apartments reach half a million euros in Novi Sad and Nis as well.

– When it becomes available, a luxury apartment is not defined by the price per square meter. Instead, the whole thing counts, and when calculations are made, we get prices per square meter of some four, five, six thousand, but that’s not the real measure of what you get, because the package gets you a lot more than is defined by the price per square meter – said Dragan Rabatic, the director of a real estate agency from Novi Sad.

Luxury apartments are also in demand in Nis.

– They are mostly sought by cash buyers. Credit buyers opt more for cheaper apartments on the outskirts of the city, and in the city center, luxury apartments, already equipped, are sold exclusively by cash buyers, whether as an investment for lease or for housing – said Nevena Djordjevic from a real estate agency from Nis.

Floor area prices increased in all of Europe

The growth of the prices of real estate, especially of the luxury type, started during the pandemic. Prices per square meter increased in all of Europe – they even tripled in places. Whether it’s Munich, Milan, or cities in the region, where the money comes from is not questioned too much. Still, our Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism is clear.

– You can’t buy any sort of real estate for EUR 15,000. You have to prove the origin of the money, open a bank account, put the money on the account, become a resident of Serbia, then have the money at your disposal, potentially pay for the real estate – said Branko Djordjevic of Vizija Racunovodstvo.

There are always those who are trying to find loopholes and launder money from the grey zone through real estate – and that, he says, could partially explain the inflated prices of real estate. On the other hand, Belgrade is becoming the address of an increasing number of foreign and local managers, entrepreneurs, IT workers and others with high earnings.