2024 is the best year to buy an apartment in Serbia! Experts claim a sharp drop in prices for old houses!

"According to experts, the real estate market in Serbia has shown a rapid decline, which consequently means that prices will fall. After constant price growth for real estate, which practically equalized old and new properties, there is good news for potential buyers. Prices for apartments in old buildings are finally decreasing, and in some areas of Belgrade they are already down by10 percent."

Even better news may come next year, as agents believe that prices could drop further. The real estate market in Serbia has shown a rapid decline - over the past year, apartment sales have decreased by almost 35 percent in Novi Sad, by 21.5 percent in Belgrade, by 15.3 percent in Niš, and by 12.8 percent in Kragujevac. As always, demand and prices are interconnected, and changes have occurred here as well.

Although new buildings are still too expensive, the situation is different for older properties. Demand and sales have decreased, and prices have also dropped. As noted by real estate agent Nikola Chobic from the agency "City Expert," prices for older homes have already started to decline. On average, across Belgrade, prices for apartments in older buildings have decreased by about 10 percent. "However, prices haven't dropped that much throughout the entire city. The decrease in value is mainly felt in the city center, while the narrow center and New Belgrade continue to remain at a higher level," Chobic told us.

Despite the fact that prices have already decreased, Chobich expects this trend to continue. "It is very likely that prices will drop another 10 percent over the next year," concludes agent Chobich.

10% or maybe less?

Real estate agent, appraiser, and court expert Milich Djokovich says that it is still too early to draw conclusions about how demand may affect prices.

In any case, Đoković's forecasts, while not predicting a sharp decline in prices, are still not so bad. He expects stabilization and a slight decrease, which is certainly good news considering that over the past few years, old properties have appreciated to the point where they are almost on par with new constructions. "When it comes to a larger decline, it happens because someone initially overvalued the property, so they had to lower the price from the 200,000 euros they wanted to 150,000 in order to sell it. If the prices are not realistic from the start, they decrease because otherwise, the apartments cannot be sold," concludes Đoković.

Why did prices drop?

The sharp decline in demand for apartments has led, depending on the agent's experience, either to a drop in prices or at least to stabilization. Nikola Chobic emphasizes that the first 'culprits' of this were the high interest rates on mortgage loans, which rose rapidly last year, causing even the small interest from buyer-lenders to diminish further. "On the other hand, cash buyers, who are always more numerous, have dried up; they bought what they wanted, and now they too have slowed down," says Chobic. And, of course, high prices have also had an impact.

The prices in the listings are unrealistically high.

The prices for real estate in listings are still unrealistically high, so buyers have no idea about any price reductions. However, the listings do not reflect the actual state of the market. Even though an apartment is listed at one high price, there is a real possibility that the purchase agreement will be concluded at a different, lower price. The difference between the listed price and the actual selling price of an apartment can be as much as 10-20 percent.