In Podgorica in the first half of the year, the demand for real estate is still high, and prices are still at last year’s level. Even on the coast, although there was a 30% drop in demand, prices remained the same.
– There are few habitable apartments on the market in Podgorica, so the offer cannot keep up with the growing demand – said the owner of the Multitask real estate agency Stefan Mišković.
The average price of an apartment in a new building in Podgorica is currently EUR 1,500 per square meter. Mišković specified that apartments around the BIG fashion shopping center and Preko Morača are 2,000 EUR per square meter, and in other parts of the city 1,400 to 1,500 EUR.
– We are talking about commercial construction, that is, today’s standards in construction. Depending on the project and the quality of construction, that price can vary, so in the same locality we have different prices due to the quality of the building (buildings with limited access, shared facilities, high ceilings, quality of finishing materials, etc.) – explained Mišković and emphasized that the apartments mostly sell under construction.
– Several thousand apartments are currently under construction in Podgorica, and we expect that with the completion of those projects, stabilization will occur, because the choice of apartments will be greater, which will inevitably lead to a decrease in transactions and, consequently, to a decrease in investments. So a slight drop in prices should not be expected before the end of the next year – forecasts Mišković and adds that everything is additionally influenced by the increase in Euribor and interest rates in the country and abroad, so the interest of both buyers and investors in loans has decreased.
The executive director of the Montenegro Prospect agency, Ivan Dašić, says that a 30% drop in real estate prices is expected, given the record inflation rates in many developed countries.
– High interest rates, awareness of the recession in the world and national economies have mostly postponed plans to buy real estate abroad – said Dašić.
According to him, in Kotor and Tivat, the minimum price for old buildings is 2,000 EUR per square meter, and for new buildings 2,800 to 3,000 EUR.
– Herceg Novi is cheaper. On the Budva Riviera, the price per square meter of an old building is at least 1,900 EUR, and 2,400 for a new building. On the Bar Riviera, the square footage of an old building is 1,500, and a new one is 2,000 EUR. As the price range is very wide depending on the location, quality, view, I am talking about the minimum prices – said Dašić, emphasizing that the prices remained at the same level compared to the beginning of the year.
– Our market is traditionally slow in reacting to changes in demand. Also, as a small market whose popularity is steadily growing, we do not need a significant part of the “cake” of foreign investors – explained Dašić, who assumes that prices will not change until the end of the year, and at the beginning of the next he expects a drop as a natural, albeit slow reaction to the drop in demand.
Rent in Podgorica fell by five to ten percent
Mišković said that there is a slight drop in demand in the segment of renting apartments, although it is still at a high level.
– This slight drop in demand is accompanied by a slight drop in rent prices, but the changes are from five to ten percent depending on the location – Mišković said.
Studio apartments in Podgorica are rented at an average price of EUR 250, one-room apartments EUR 400, two-room apartments EUR 650, and three-room apartments EUR 900 and more.
He believes that the slight drop in rent prices was due to a smaller number of Russians and Ukrainians coming to Montenegro, while more and more Turkish citizens are settling in Podgorica. He believes that it is ungrateful to give long-term forecasts about the price of rent.
– Just as no one could predict geopolitical events and repercussions on the rent market in our country, so it is ungrateful to forecast what will happen next. It is certain, however, that in the first six months we do not have the trend of arrivals of foreigners and the increase in demand that we had last year, and that it is realistic to expect a smaller drop in rent by the end of the year – Mišković concluded.
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