Real estate sales are falling, but prices per sq.m. continue to rise in new buildings and old houses: the economic situation.

In the first quarter of this year, less real estate was sold in Serbia than at the same time last year, a 9.5 percent decrease. However, more money was spent on real estate - a total of €1,642,369,253, an increase of 2.6 percent.

The reason for this is simple: most people are buying apartments, and prices per square meter in new buildings and secondary housing continue to rise. According to a report by the Republican Geodesic Institute (RGI), the prices of apartments in new buildings in Belgrade have increased by about 14 percent. Last year, a square meter of apartment was sold at an average price of 2165 euros, while in the first quarter of this year the cost was at an average of 2465 euros. Prices for apartments in older buildings rose by 20 percent, from last year's €1,680 to €3,003. In addition to Belgrade, the jump in prices per square meter is noticeable in all major cities - Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac. In Novi Sad, the average price per square meter in secondary housing is 1,928 euros, while the price per square meter in new buildings is 1,723 euros.

In the first quarter of 2023, compared to the first quarter of 2022, a decrease in the number of sales was registered in Belgrade by 1,032 contracts (13%), in Novi Sad by 690 contracts (25%), in Niš by 255 contracts (24.5%) and in Kragujevac by 43 contracts (6.5%). "In the capital, Belgrade, 15.4 million euros more is allocated for real estate transactions in the first quarter of 2023 than at the same time last year. The amount of money on the real estate market in Belgrade amounted to 828.4 million euros in the first quarter of 2023, while in the first quarter of 2022 the amount was 813 million euros," the WGI report said.

Jokovic: Prices are rising across the board

Evaluator Milic Djokovic from the Real Estate Cluster says the difference between the price and value of real estate is constantly growing. "Real estate prices are rising all over the world and they will follow the rise in inflation on the euro. This process will continue, but not on the same scale as at the end of 2022," Djokovic said for Euronews Srbija. He added that the number of real estate transactions has decreased, but the amount of money has increased. "Now we have a situation where 20 properties in a certain area are sold for five million euros, whereas before 30 properties were sold for 4.5 million euros," Djokovic added. He pointed out one of the reasons for the decline in real estate transactions is lack of credit.

Lazarevich: The crisis is big, loans are expensive

A real estate agent Kaca Lazarevic says that the volume of real estate transactions has significantly decreased compared to last year. "The situation is much worse than last year and there is no trend of improvement. The crisis is big, loans are expensive, people just don't want to take risks if they don't have a stable income and a good salary. Even people with good incomes are panicking," Lazarevic says. As she points out, the level of decline can be seen in the number of transactions notarized - there are no more lines and waits. She adds that apartments priced between 300,000 and 350,000 euros are the most sold, but sales of properties in new buildings have slowed down. "The price per square meter is still high. There are not that many buyers willing to pay 6,000 - 7,000 euros. In the case of new buildings, people count because they mostly need to take out loans. That's the problem," Lazarevic said.

Official statistics show a 10 percent decline in loan-financed real estate transactions, but Lazarevic says the figure is much higher. "We do appraisals for banks. Practically, these assessments do not exist now. People do not risk borrowing money, loans are taken only by those who are obliged," she emphasized.