Photo: PixabayThe extreme increase in rents for rented apartments never ceases to shock. Russians and Ukrainians have become the target group of our landlords, while real estate rental prices are becoming unaffordable for local tenants.
"Either it will be empty or they will have to lower the price to domestic tenants with normal rents." I hope that this was now an "earthquake" that is over and will not happen again, Milić Djoković, an appraiser and expert in the real estate market, tells "Blic Biznis", commenting on the current developments in the real estate market related to rental prices.
Although the light at the end of this tunnel is not visible at the moment and the uncertainty is increasing day by day, Djoković says that by the end of the year we should know what will happen to the rental prices in the next year.
"Our predictions are that everything will either stabilize by the end of the year and settle down, or it will burst." We will definitely know what we are up to by the New Year," concludes Djoković.
It is a fact that the war in Ukraine created a general upheaval in the real estate market in our country, because their citizens, fleeing the war zone, found a temporary refuge in Serbia. Demand for apartments exploded overnight, and prices were not an issue for them. This is exactly what put the local tenant in a very awkward position, because for the newly formed rent price, he can hardly stand out from the average Serbian salary.
When asked what if 50 or 100,000 tenants in Serbia, and especially in Belgrade, cannot pay those high rents, Djoković explains:
"In this case, the state could react, be the regulatory body in relations with foreigners, so that every tenant and landlord will have to certify the contract, the foreigner should report to the police, have a photocopy of his passport taken and certified by a notary public and tax must be paid on it. Well, when all this becomes mandatory, when it is understood as an obligation and not as a business, the landlords would behave differently".
Concern and what will happen next does not subside among our citizens who do not have a roof over their heads. Whether the shock wave has passed or is yet to follow is the question.
"That shock wave of Russians and Ukrainians who came to Serbia in large numbers has passed. I sincerely hope that it is not only temporary, but that it remains permanent. The price is still dictated by the demand, and as long as it is high, the prices rise, and when the landlord has no one to rent it to, he will lower the price. This is an abnormal story because the average citizen simply cannot pay for this," says Djoković.
Although some indicators indicate that a new wave of Russians and Ukrainians will come to us, Djoković points to a completely different possibility in which "a good part of the 'economic migrants' will bypass Serbia because of the high cost".
Djoković also says that the arrival of foreigners from currently warring countries is good for the economy of our country, but it is unsustainable in the long term. He explains that it is impossible to maintain the economy based on other people's donations, and that there must be a domestic economy, which in this case means that the domestic tenant must be respected, and that everything cannot be rented out only to foreigners, because that is simply unsustainable in the long term.
Source: blic.rs
