Russia is the largest client for real estate in Montenegro.

The fall of the ruble has reduced the interest of Russian buyers in Montenegro real estate, but the economic crisis has increased the number of those who want to sell their apartments on the coast.

But the recovery of the Russian currency brings optimism to real estate brokers that the Montenegrin coast will remain a favorite real estate market for Russians.

Despite the fact that the beginning of the year traditionally slows down the real estate market, the interest of foreigners to buy in Montenegro is not decreasing, at least judging by the experience of our interviewees, who mainly work on the Russian market.

"The state of the market can be described as a lull, but that is usual for this time of year. The interest of Russians has not weakened much compared to last year, and the biggest interest is in the coast, especially Budva," says Irina Raskazova from the Red Phoenix agency.

The ruble set its highest value in mid-January in the last year and a half and is now exchanged for the dollar at a rate of about 59 and for the euro at 63 rubles. Thus, it has become the currency with the largest increase in value over the past year, strengthening against the dollar by 23 percent.

The rise of the ruble on the one hand, and falling real estate prices in Montenegro on the other, gives optimism to Alla Vernigora of SMM Agency that agencies will soon have to do more work in sales.

"Russians are now looking for cheaper properties to avoid losing their money due to high inflation. The euro-ruble exchange rate is constantly changing, rising and falling. So they want to invest in real estate, and Montenegro is still 'number one' for them among Russians. "

The exact number of foreign, including Russian, real estate in Montenegro is unknown, as there is no data on illegal apartments, their number is estimated at about one hundred thousand. The percentage of their foreign owners will be known only after legalization, which is due to begin on March 1.

In the interim, Russians began selling their apartments in Montenegro when the ruble began a dramatic devaluation in 2014 and lost about 40 percent of its then value against the dollar.

"This trend is still continuing. Russians are selling real estate because they need money because of the crisis. But they can't sell at the purchase price. Apartments got cheaper and a lot was built.

Along with the fall in the ruble exchange rate, which stopped the influx of Russian real estate buyers, interest from the Western European market has increased over the past few years, our interviewees say. However, Russians remain the most numerous clients in their business.

Why they choose Montenegro in particular, we ask Irina Raskazova, director of Red Phoenix. "Firstly, because Montenegro is mentally close to Russia. But our clients say that one of the decisive reasons for choosing Montenegro is the good, mild climate. However, there is a lack of poor maintenance and infrastructure. Although it is the same coastline as Spain or France, the infrastructure is weaker. But maybe that's not a bad thing because the prices are lower. If there was better infrastructure, the cost of real estate would be higher, and then probably most people would not be able to buy it. "

According to annual statistics from MONSTAT, the average price of new buildings last year was around 1,100 euros in Podgorica and 1,250 in Budva, up to 600 in Niksic. When it comes to the maximum amounts, they refer to large investment projects in Boké Kotorska, where a square meter sells for 9,000 euros.