Plots and cottages in Serbia are still sold at incredible prices. Demand is high. On the other hand, the most expensive apartment was sold in Belgrade, with a price per square meter of almost 8,800. Does that mean that the real estate market still resisted the pandemic?
As many as 13 of the most expensive apartments sold in the last three months of last year are located in Belgrade Waterfront. For the most expensive of them, the buyer set aside 8,754 euros per square meter.
The end of 2020 marked a decline in interest in cottages, while the sale of apartments increased significantly, according to data from the report of the Republic Geodetic Authority.
“If we look at the whole year and the fact that we had a month and a half of emergency when we had a serious drop in turnover but not a drop in property prices, at the end of the second, third and fourth quarters we had an increase in turnover. It was almost the same if not higher than in 2019. Prices are a percentage higher than in 2019,” said Nenad Djordjevic of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
Prices on the real estate market in Belgrade, which amounts to about 60 percent of the turnover of apartments in Serbia, continue to grow slightly. New apartments in several of the most attractive locations cost on average more than 3,000 euros. At a price of about 1,000 euros per square meter, the roof over your head can possibly be reached in the peripheral settlements.
It is mostly bought for cash
Although the number of housing loans is growing, about 70 percent of the turnover is for cash.
“Our data show that in 2020 we have 466 million euros more than in the previous year, in projects it is over 135,000 housing loans, now in total when we take the cut,” points out Vladimir Vasic, Secretary General of the Association of Banks.
The average loan for an apartment has not changed and amounts to around 30,000 euros, which indicates that the largest number of buyers provide more than the required participation, because for this amount in Belgrade it is possible to buy only a studio apartment on the outskirts.
“People sell some of their real estate and then buy something bigger and then that’s the difference that arises. They come to the banks to replenish the necessary funds to buy real estate. Savings in dinars have increased, people have confidence in the dinar, and on the other hand I guess it’s a good part of some of our people who work abroad who want to invest their money, and hence the inflow of funds on the real estate market,” Vasic added.
In the last quarter of last year, the turnover on the real estate market reached 1.3 billion euros, which speaks of the recovery of this branch of the economy, which in 2019 participated with 5.7 percent in the gross domestic product, RTS reports.
