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BoA: Coast is pushing up property prices, Tirana is holding back

2026-04-28 15:28:00, Ekonomi CNA

The Bank of Albania estimates that housing prices continued to increase at high rates in the second half of last year.

The Fischer index calculated by the Bank of Albania showed that the average price of homes sold during the period increased by 11.7% compared to the previous half-year and by 28% compared to the previous year. However, the annual price increase slowed from the 41.7% level reported in the first half of 2025.

In particular for the capital, the market appears to be slowing down significantly.

The sales price index in Tirana was reported unchanged compared to the previous six months and increased by 4.4% compared to the level of a year earlier.

Year-on-year price growth fell sharply from the 32.6% level in the first half of 2025.

The Bank of Albania estimates that the main contribution to the increase in the value of the general price index was made by the increase in the value of the index calculated for coastal areas.

Compared to the previous six months and the year before, it is noted that the weights of transactions for which the purchase price of the property was the same or up to 5% lower than the price requested by the seller have similar weights to the first six months.

The average time to sell homes nationwide fell to 9.1 months from 11.6 months in the previous survey. In the case of Tirana, the average time to sell decreased significantly to 8.1 from 11.1 months. The average time to sell in coastal areas increased to 9.9 from 8.7 months, while for other areas the duration of the sale was lower than in the previous six months, falling to 10.1 from 12.8 months.

Financing through bank loans continued to accompany a good portion of property sales. According to agents, about 61% of residential and commercial properties sold by them were purchased with bank loans. Of these, in 38% of cases the loan covered up to 60% of the value.

During the second half of 2025, around 25% of homes sold were reported to have been purchased by non-residents. Of these, around 52% were EU citizens.

Overall, the share of transactions in which buyers are non-residents has shown an increasing trend over the last 5 years.

The Bank of Albania reports that rental prices according to agents have also increased during the second half of 2025. Information on demand and rental prices comes mainly from agents operating in the capital area. According to them, the overall demand for rentals is reported to be higher than the demand of the previous half of the year.

The subjects' assessments of the market situation and prices in the housing market remain generally positive for the short and longer term. Sales agents' expectations for the future appear positive again. Agents have positive expectations for the market performance in the territory where they operate for the short term and for the longer term (up to two years).

Information on price developments and the assessment of the situation by agents in the real estate market is obtained through field surveys of a sample of 230 entities whose main activity is the trading of real estate. The selected entities are agents of real estate trading offices and construction companies, whose sales represent about 75%-80% of the turnover of the entire population.

The Bank of Albania carries out the design of the questionnaire, as well as the submission and processing of the results, while the Institute of Statistics covers the field interviewing, the main sampling processes and the physical control of the completed questionnaires./Monitor