This year, real estate turnover increased by one percent compared to 2021, and the total value of transactions in Serbia reached two billion euros, said Ivana Štrbac, head of the Department for Real Estate Valuation Management at the Republic Geodetic Institute (RGZ).
In an interview with Tanjug, Strbac mentioned that the purchase of real estate from loans has decreased, so that 88 percent of turnover is paid in cash and that buyers are more cautious when taking out housing loans, due to the increase in interest rates.
“It is interesting that, compared to last year, there was a slight decrease in the purchase of apartments on credit, because in previous years about 30 percent were paid from loans, and this year 27 percent of apartments were purchased on credit,” Štrbac said.
She added that real estate is getting more expensive, but despite that, the amount of money in real estate transactions has increased as well as increased demand for real estate in Serbia.
“The European Committee for the Assessment of Systematic Risk stated in its report as an explanation for the constant demand for real estate and the rise in its prices that people are afraid of inflation and think that their money will be safer if they buy some real estate, so a drastic drop in demand for real estate is not expected”, stated Strbac.
According to RGZ data, compared to last year, real estate turnover increased the most in Kragujevac by 7.5 percent, then in Belgrade by 4.5 percent and in Novi Sad by three percent.
Štrbac stated that the most purchased are apartments, construction land, houses, agricultural land, and garage and office space. She also stated that the most expensive square meter of living space was paid for an apartment of 97 square meters in a tower in Belgrade on the water, and it cost 9,545 euros, and the most expensive apartment sold in the same neighborhood with an area of 163 square meters was paid close to 1.4 million euros.
The most expensive house, worth 2.9 million euros, was sold in the Belgrade municipality of Stari grad, a business area of 3,183 square meters was paid for 10.2 million euros, and the most expensive garage was sold in Kopaonik for 42,000 euros.