Real estate in Serbia: steady recovery among Russians and Ukrainians.

The real estate market is gradually stabilizing after a peak in property rentals and sales last year due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the influx of Russian citizens to Serbia. According to interlocutors of a Belgrade real estateagency, "prices for apartments and houses have dropped significantly compared to last year's peak in October-November. Depending on the neighborhoods of Belgrade, prices have fallen by up to 30%." Property values have risen sharply in 2022 as many Russians and some Ukrainians have arrived in the country, increasing demand to rent and buy.

"Russians are still asking for apartments, but less than last year. However, they have also become more cautious and are looking for apartments on the outskirts of the city," EURACTIV interlocutors say. Property owners realized that they could not quickly rent out their property and started to lower prices. As for real estate sales, prices have fallen by about 10%, with Russians making up a small proportion of real estate buyers in the country.

"Everything in the economic market has periods of growth, stagnation and decline," said Ljubodrag Savic, a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Belgrade, noting that the decline in real estate prices is expected.

"Many Ukrainians and Russian citizens, in order to escape the war, paid to leave the country. So those people who came here had money," the professor said, noting that they had "almost no interest in prices." "When they realized that these prices were too high, they started looking for apartments on the outskirts of the city, even outside Belgrade. Many Russian and Ukrainian citizens left Serbia, which also affected the decrease in demand," Savic added.

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(Milena Antonijevic / EURACTIV.rs)Read more at EURACTIV.