The Serbian Real Estate Market is Stabilizing After the Decline in Interest from Russians and Ukrainians
The real estate market is slowly stabilizing after last year's peak in the rental and sale of real estate after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the influx of Russian citizens in Serbia.
Euractiv writes on this.
“Apartment and house prices have dropped significantly compared to last year's peak in October-November. Depending on the parts of Belgrade, prices have dropped by up to 30%,” said sources from a Belgrade real estate agency.
Property values rose sharply in 2022, as many Russians and some Ukrainians came to the country, leading to increased demand in the rental and purchase sectors.
“Russians are still buying apartments, but less than last year. However, they have also wised up, so they are looking for apartments on the suburbs,” say interlocutors EURACTIV.
Landlords saw that they could not rent out real estate quickly and began to lower prices.
As for the sale of real estate, prices fell by about 10 percent, with Russians making up a few buyers of real estate in the country.
“Everything in a market economy has periods of growth, stagnation and decline,” Ljubodrag Savic, professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, told EURACTIV, noting that a drop in real estate prices is expected.
“The pandemic primarily dictated an increase in real estate prices, because many people who had money invested in real estate. This situation continued with the construction of apartments in attractive locations. Having bought these properties, some people took advantage of them in this situation with Russians and Ukrainians,” he explained.
“Many Ukrainian and Russian citizens, fleeing the war, paid to leave the country. So those who came here had money,” the professor said, noting that they “hardly ever asked about prices.”
“Because they realized these prices were too high, they started looking for apartments on the outskirts of the city, even outside of Belgrade. Many Russian and Ukrainian citizens left Serbia, which also contributed to the decrease in demand,” Savic added.
Recall that Serbian Economy Minister Rade Bašta called for the speedy imposition of sanctions against Russia, as the country is under tremendous pressure, and the war in Ukraine is unlikely to end quickly.