Belgrade Rents Up to 30% Since July, Agent Estimates
A Belgrade agent puts the rise at 20 to 30% since late July, while Novi Sad rents hold at 400 to 700 euros but more Russians compete for the same flat.
Rents in Belgrade have risen 20 to 30% since late July, according to an estimate from a Belgrade real estate agent published by the independent Russian outlet Meduza. It is a market estimate, not official statistics for the whole city. The trigger is a new wave of Russian citizens arriving in Serbia, and good flats in Belgrade and Novi Sad are once again drawing queues.
How much have rents risen in Belgrade?
The estimate came from an agent identified to Meduza as Pyotr. According to him, flats in central Belgrade now rent for roughly 600 to 1,000 euros a month. More Russians have been arriving since the second half of August, and he says he has not seen a market like this since 2022.
At some viewings, five or six people are already waiting ahead of a prospective tenant. When the first people through the door see a line behind them, some leave a deposit on the spot so the flat does not slip away. Flats, Pyotr says, are rented almost as soon as they are advertised.
The calendar adds pressure. The new arrivals coincided with September, when local students come to Belgrade and look for housing, so students and new foreign tenants are competing for the same limited stock.
What happened with the listing in Zvezdara?
The scale of the rush shows in the case of a one-bedroom flat near the BEO shopping center in Zvezdara, whose owner has not been named. His previous tenant, a Russian woman, shared the listing in a large Russian Viber group at 425 euros a month, the rent she had been paying herself. The group’s administrator deleted the message after 60 seconds, but hundreds of people saw it in that time.
The owner told Mondo: “The phone literally started burning up! I did not even have time to understand what was happening.” He had more than 50 messages on WhatsApp and more than 40 on Viber. One interested person offered him 600 euros a month, 175 euros above the asking price, and some offered to pay half a year of rent in advance.
“I have never experienced anything like this in my life,” the owner said. One listing is not market statistics, but it matches what the agents describe.
What is happening in Novi Sad?
The picture there is different. Andrey, a Russian citizen who has worked as a real estate agent in Novi Sad since 2022, told Meduza that since late July he has been getting several requests a day to view flats for long-term rent. Before, he could go a whole week without a single inquiry.
Prices in Novi Sad have not exploded so far:
- rents range from 400 to 700 euros
- during the 2022 wave, the same flats rented for 800 to 1,000 euros
- in Belgrade, flats in the center rent for 600 to 1,000 euros, according to Pyotr’s estimate
What has changed is something else: a flat is harder to find. In spring, tenants could see several flats and compare offers, and some listings stayed active for a month. Now flats go almost immediately. According to Andrey, a string of interested Russians turns up for the same property regardless of its condition, and some offer more than the owner first asked. Some agents are therefore considering raising their commissions.
Why are Russians coming again?
Meduza opens its article with this line:
“The apartment rental market in Belgrade is heating up again, and Russians looking for a property these days could face much stiffer competition than just a few months ago.”
The trigger is a rumor that has circulated in Russia since summer about a possible new wave of mobilization after the State Duma elections. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed such claims and said there is currently no need for a new mobilization.
The agents describe a different profile from 2022, when many remote workers arrived, especially from the IT sector, often with a job, a budget and a plan for where to live already arranged. Now some people are leaving faster and with less certainty, and the arrivals include single people and whole families, mostly under 45. Inquiries come even from people who have not yet left Russia and are checking in advance what a flat will cost.
Andrey estimates that what happens next depends on events in Russia. If nothing dramatic occurs, he says, some of the newcomers could go back by the end of this year or early next year. If the wave continues, local tenants could feel the consequences for much longer.
