Serbian real estate market stabilises as Russians, Ukrainians less interested

The real estate market is slowly stabilising after last year’s peak in renting and selling real estate following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an influx of Russian citizens to Serbia.

“Prices of apartments and houses have fallen significantly compared to last year’s peak in October-November. Depending on the parts of Belgrade, prices fell by up to 30%”, interlocutors from one Belgrade real estate agency told EURACTIV.

The cost of real estate increased sharply during 2022 as many Russians and some Ukrainians came to the country, pushing up demand in the rental and purchase sectors.

“Russians are still demanding apartments, but fewer than last year. However, they, too, have smartened up, so they are looking for apartments on the city’s outskirts”, say EURACTIV interlocutors.

Landlords saw they could not rent out properties quickly and began to lower prices.

Regarding real estate sales, prices have fallen by about 10%, with Russians making up a small number of real estate buyers in the country.

“Everything in the market economy has periods of growth, stagnation and decline”, Ljubodrag Savić, Professor of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Belgrade told EURACTIV, noting that the drop in real estate prices is expected.

“The pandemic primarily dictated the rise in real estate prices because many people who had money invested it in real estate. This situation continued with the construction of apartments in attractive locations. By buying these properties, some took advantage of them in this situation with the Russians and Ukrainians”, he explained.

“Many Ukrainian and Russian citizens, to escape from the war, paid to leave the country. So those people who came here had money”, the professor said, noting that they “almost didn’t ask about prices.”

“As they realised these prices were too high, they started looking for apartments on the city’s outskirts, even outside Belgrade. Many Russian and Ukrainian citizens left Serbia, which also affected the reduced demand,” Savić added.

(Milena Antonijević/ EURACTIV.rs)