Photo: Miloš Nikolić (Ivana Šrtbac, RGZ)The sale of vacation houses in Serbia has seen great growth during the last four years, and despite a slight decline in the first half of this year, there is still a high demand for houses in the mountains, next to rivers, in spas, and close to large cities. This inevitably had an impact on the increase in the prices of this type of property as well as the emergence of some new trends in this segment of the real estate market. According to the data of the Republic Geodetic Authoruty (RGA) on the sale of vacation houses and apartments in residential complexes in mountains, as well as the sale of building land in municipalities where vacation houses and apartments are sold the most, the trend of increased investment in this type of real estate can be expected to continue in the coming period.
“The COVID-19 pandemic initiated a huge demand for vacation homes, which led to a significant increase in sales, but also in the prices of vacation homes in Serbia during 2020 and 2021, when their sales were at a record level. During 2021, 1,450 vacation houses were traded, which is at the same level as in 2020 and 64% more compared to 2018 and 2019. Although a slight slowdown in this growth trend compared to the previous year was noticeable in the first half of this year, being around 10% at the level of the whole of Serbia, the sale of vacation houses is still very high. The Belgrade area, where Kosmaj, Avala, and Grocka are located, as very popular locations for vacation homes, even recorded a 15% increase in their sales,“ says Ivana Štrbac, Head of Real Estate Valuation Department, RGA.
MODERN VACATION HOME IN FRUŠKA GORA: THE MUNICIPALITY WITH THE HIGHEST TURNOVER OF VACATION HOMES IN SERBIA IS INDJIJA / PHOTO: MODELART ARHITEKTI
Speaking of the regions, the undisputed leader in terms of the number of vacation homes traded is Vojvodina, where there has been the largest increase in the sale of this type of property in the last four years. The municipality with the highest turnover of vacation homes in Serbia is Inđija, followed by Novi Sad, Beočin and Sremski Karlovci. “For several years now, Fruška Gora has been the most attractive location for vacation homes in Vojvodina, among other things, because it is close to Belgrade and Novi Sad. Stražilovo, close to Sremski Karlovci, the area of Iriški Venac and Vrdnik, as well as Čortanovci, Krčedin and Stari Slankamen in the Danube area, are also among top locations,” says Ivana Štrbac, adding that a higher turnover of vacation homes in Vojvodina was also recorded in the municipalities of Zrenjanin, Subotica and Sremska Mitrovica, while Kovin, Vršac and Alibunar are increasingly interesting destinations.
The fifth municipality in Serbia with the highest sales of vacation homes and the first outside the Vojvodina region is Grocka, about 30 kilometers away from Belgrade. According to RGA data, Sopot in Kosmaj, Barajevo, and Mladenovac were also popular with buyers of vacation homes in the past period. In the Kosmaj and Avala areas, close to Belgrade, there is an increasing sale of apartments since there is intensive construction of residential complexes in these locations.
According to purchase and sale contracts, the prices of vacation homes in Serbia range from several thousand to several hundred thousand euros per house. According to the RGA data, last year and this year, the largest price range was recorded in Kopaonik, where the cheapest vacation house cost 6,000 euros, and the most expensive 600,000 euros. In Sremska Kamenica, the prices range from 5,000 to 410,000 euros; in Kosmaj from 2,000 to 205,000 euros; in Divčibare from 9,500 to 130,000 euros; and in Fruška Gora from 2,000 to 130,000 euros. On average, the most expensive are the vacation homes on Zlatibor, since the cheapest was sold for 21,500 euros and the most expensive for 275,000 euros. In addition, this year and last year, roughly twice as many vacation homes were traded in the cadastral municipality of Čajetina, to which Zlatibor belongs, as in Kopaonik and Divčibare.
“The price of a vacation house depends on several factors: the location, the area, the size of the plot, construction period, equipment, infrastructure, etc. The most expensive vacation homes are sold in Zlatibor and Kopaonik, while the cheapest are sold in Zrenjanin, Šabac, Šid, Beočin, and Bečej, where you could have bought a house for 1,000 euros. What we can notice as a trend is that in 2022, compared to previous years, the percentage of more expensive vacation houses that were sold at a price above 50,000 euros increased significantly. Last year, the most expensive vacation home was sold for 600,000 euros in Kopaonik, which is a record price in the last five years, while in the first half of this year, the most expensive vacation home was sold for 410,000 euros in Sremska Kamenica, municipality of Novi Sad,“ says Ivana Štrbac.
In addition to vacation homes, in certain tourist destinations there is also a significant sale of apartments within newly built complexes, which are increasingly being built on popular mountains. In this segment of the market, Zlatibor leads the way, both in terms of capacity and prices. According to RGA data, 782 apartments were sold in the municipality of Čajetina in the first half of this year, with prices ranging from 600 to 2,677 euros per square meter in new buildings. The average price per square meter in a new residential building in Zlatibor was 1,583 euros, which is higher than the average price of newly built apartments on other mountains. 209 apartments were sold in Kopaonik at an average price of 1,355 euros per square meter in new construction (the minimum was 567, and the maximum was 4,450 euros), while 106 apartments were sold in Divčibare at an average price of 1,438 euros per square meter in new construction (ranging from 395 to 2,142 euros).
Whether the trend of building apartment complexes in popular tourist destinations in Serbia will continue, we will see from the apartments sale in the coming period. The data from the RGA, which show that in the last two years there has been a significant increase in the sale of building land in certain municipalities that are attractive for the purchase of vacation homes and apartments, however, could indicate that there will be more mountain apartments and luxurious vacation homes on offer. For example, in Sopot, the number of building land sales increased from 182 in 2019 to 683 in 2021, in Grocka from 321 to 567, in Inđija from 246 to 509, in Čajetina from 185 to 453, and in Bajina Bašta from 107 to 356. Last year, the highest price per are was paid for building land in Čajetina - 51,418 euros. In Sopot, the most expensive building land was paid for at 3,200 euros per are, and in Inđija – 16,547 euros per are.
“In 2021, the total sale of building land increased by 40% compared to 2020, while in the first half of 2022, a slight decrease of 8% was recorded compared to the same period last year, which is still at a significantly higher level than in 2019 and 2020,“ says Ivana Štrbac.
By: Jovana Nikolić
