Searching for a house in Montenegro: Villa overlooking the bay and mountain landscape.
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International Real Estate
Along the Adriatic coast in the Balkan country, sales are up and prices have recovered to 2019 levels, with demand outstripping construction.
Author: Marcelle Sussman Fischler
Published August 4, 2021.
Updated August 5, 2021.
19th century stone villa on the coast of montenegro/">Montenegro
1.8 million dollars (1.5 million euros)
This semi detached four bedroom stone villa is located in Lepetan, a coastal village near the city of Tivat, in southwest Montenegro.
The 227 square meter villa, built in 1820 and renovated five years ago, is located opposite the Bay of Boko Kotor, a mountain resort that flows into the Adriatic Sea. "Cocoon design in the historic facade combines traditional Montenegrin construction with modern architecture and contemporary solutions in interior design," says Boris Darmanovic, manager of Montenegro brokerage Sotheby's International Realty, which has the offer.
The architect "brought an unexpected amount of light into the buy/house/">house/">house," Mr. Darmanovich said, using metal bridges to connect sliding glass doors in second-floor bedrooms to exterior walls. "It's not typical for a house like this."
Entry is through arched timber double doors into the stone wall surrounding the ground level stone tiled courtyard to the left of the house.
The entrance door leading to the living room is located on the second floor and opens into a spacious room with classic stone walls and tiled flooring. A curved floating leather corner sofa is positioned opposite the fireplace, with a television above it. At one end, there is a dining table illuminated by two pendant drum chandeliers. The house is being sold with furniture.
To the left of the main entrance, there is an archway leading to the kitchen, with stone walls and a stone vaulted ceiling. A white marble countertop is installed on the island, along with a sink and a cooktop. Along the wall with cabinets, there are a refrigerator, an oven, and a concealed toilet. The back door leads to a spacious terrace with a summer kitchen and a barbecue.
A spiral staircase descends from the kitchen to the first floor, where the spa area is located. The heated indoor pool is tiled with ceramic tiles and has white marble edges. The tiled floor features a sauna, a Turkish steam room, and a bathroom with a shower. Double doors at the front of the pool area open onto a walled outdoor terrace next to the road.
The room on the first floor can be used as a bedroom and opens into an inner courtyard with an antique stone basin and a niche for firewood. There is a separate entrance to a one-bedroom apartment for guests or staff, which includes a bedroom and a bathroom.
On the second floor, a wide corridor has a door leading to the turkey/antalya/antaliia/">antalya/side/">side/">side terrace. Sliding blinds, installed under the solar panels for hot water, protect the veranda. Two bedrooms with oak flooring and sliding glass doors share a bathroom. A four-foot outdoor walkway connects the bedrooms from the glass doors to the windows and decorative shutters (but without glass) on the facade of the building. With no roof above it, sunlight (and rain) can enter.
In the attic, the master bedroom features an oak floor and sloped walls with wooden beams. A sliding door opens onto a balcony with a view of the bay.
The parking for two cars is located across the road by the waterfront. A stone wall and a sloped gravel area serve as the beach, and there is a 30-foot boat dock.
The house is located just over a mile from the center of Tivat and Porto Montenegro, a marina with luxury residential complexes, fine dining restaurants, brand-name shops, and a boutique hotel. Kotor, a fortified city included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, featuring coastal churches and a maze of cobbled streets, is a 25-minute drive away. Tivat International Airport is a 20-minute drive away.
Market overview
The pandemic has harmed the economy of Montenegro, a country with a population of 660,000, "more than any other country in the region, leading to a 15 percent decline in GDP" and an increase in unemployment from 15.3 to 20 percent, according to a report by the U.S.
Kiren Kelleher, the CEO of Dream Estates Montenegro, affiliated with Savills, stated that the number of transactions at his firm decreased by 55-60 percent last year, although prices fell by a less alarming 10-15 percent. "We expected a larger drop in prices due to the coronavirus," he said, "mainly because developers knew it would be better for them to wait."
By the fall of last year, Leila Chalich, director of Resido Montenegro, noticed a "significant increase in requests for permanent residency in Montenegro." Long-term rentals and purchases began to accelerate in December and have not stopped since.
“I don’t remember a summer when we were so busy with purchase requests,” said Ms. Chalic, noting that buyers often browse while they are on vacation. “This summer is different. They are coming to buy.”
Niko Lakovich, managing partner and sales manager at Montenegro Sotheby's International Realty, said that in 2021 "there was a boom, and people are buying second homes."
In Mr. Lakovich's office, the number of inquiries has increased by 500 percent, and the number of sales along the Montenegrin coast has risen by "60-70 percent compared to last season when we were almost completely closed to visitors," he said. Prices are now in line with 2019, but "demand is significantly increasing."
The prices of villas are currently "quite stable," but new apartments have increased by at least 10-15 percent, partly due to the rising cost of building materials. "Construction is really dynamic," says Ms. Chalic.
Foreigners make up 99 percent of buyers in the "premium," or top 2 percent, market, Mr. Kelleher said, noting that prices range from 7,500 to 10,000 euros per square meter ($825 to $1,100 per square foot) for properties on the first line of the sea and "in luxurious new resorts."
Off the coast of the Adriatic Sea, the "non-prime market" for smaller apartments is "quite stable" and "more suitable for locals, but foreigners are also buying there," said Mr. Kelleher. Prices range from 2000 to 2500 euros per square meter ($220 to $275 per square foot).
Penthouses, townhouses, and villas are for sale in luxurious marina complexes such as Porto Montenegro and Portonovi, as well as traditional Montenegrin stone houses by the sea.
“People are buying good properties and purchasing larger properties and homes on the waterfront,” said Mr. Lakovich. At the top end, prices reach $10 million for a three-bedroom home on the waterfront.
But Mark Wild, director of Montenegro Real Estate, warns that housing prices are not uniform. If two neighboring houses are for sale, "one is priced twice as much as the other. The hardest part is finding property at the right price."
Who buys in Montenegro
Buyers are coming from the usa/">USA, Canada, Turkey, serbia/">Serbia, Ukraine, the UK, Western Europe, China, Lebanon, and other Middle Eastern countries, agents say.
“Russians are still coming, but not as many as before,” said Ms. Chalic.
Some American buyers who left in childhood are coming back, Mr. Wild said. "People who went to America and made a lot of money are returning here and buying a second home," he said. "We even have people who come back and buy their old family homes."
Currently, about half of the buyers from the USA, China, and the Middle East are using the citizenship by investment program, paying a minimum of 450,000 euros ($535,000) for coastal real estate or 250,000 euros ($297,000) for apartments in new hotel complexes in the ski region in the north, plus a government fee of 100,000 euros ($119,000) for a golden passport. However, the new coalition government, which replaced the pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists that had ruled this small Balkan country for 29 years, may cancel this program, Mr. Kelleher said.
Nevertheless, personal and corporate tax rates at 9 percent are
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