How much apartment can you buy in Tirana for EUR 100 000?

The foto shows three apartment buildings in “Blloku” – one of the most expensive districts of Tirana. What is nice to see: the first building is from the communist area; the middle one was likely built between 1991 and 2008; the right one has just been finished in 2019. What this means, and how much squaremeters you can buy there and overall in Tirana, this is what we are about to describe.

Why an apartment in Tirana?

Maybe you wonder what makes an apartment in Tirana interesting. Rest assured, there are a lot of compelling reasons. Most importantly, Tirana is more than just the capital – it is rather the heart of the Albanian economy. 32.2% of the Albania population live here. Its businesses account for more than 40% of the GDP. Since it is the capital, big corporations, embassies, GOs and NGOs have their main office here, too.

Naturally, there are lots of people who want to buy or rent a condo in Tirana. First of all, there are the Albanians who want to live in Tirana. Despite of the Albanian population shrinking, more and more people have moved to Tirana. Indeed, Tirana’s population has been growing at a stunning rate of 10% to 25% per year.

Tirana’s population skyrocketed: its magnetism attracts businesses, students, tourists, and expats alike.

To continue, Tirana hosts the majority of universities. 9 out of the 16 public universities are in Tirana. Besides, Tirana attracts the lion’s share of emigrants and investors to work and live here. Lastly, Tirana is the most visited town of Albania – no surprise, given the splendid reviews it has received. One of our favorite reviews is this one from The Telegraph.

The real estate prices – Overall

Before we look at the interactive map towards the end of this article, let us look at the overall prices. We first collected 170 pricing offers of existing and finished apartments throughout Tirana. Second, we created the chart which you may find further below.

In the chart, we show the distribution of prices per square meter. In detail, on the x-axis (bottom line), you can see the price range in EUR. On the y-axis (left side), you can see how many percent of apartments are offered at that price. For example, 25% of all offers sell an apartment with a price per square meter between 601 and 800 EUR.

In Tirana, for 100,000 EUR, you can find an apartment with as much as 232 sqm or as little as 45 sqm.

For the data science nerds, the median is 988 EUR and the mean is 1,055 EUR. It is easy to spot that the distribution is right skewed. This reflects that there is a pronounced center with limited supply of apartments – as we will see in the interactive map later. The range starts at 430 EUR and ends at 2233 EUR per square meter. Lastly, if you hover over a bar, we added the cumulative distribution of apartments that cost less than this. We created this chart using Apexcharts.

Why are prices given in EUR and not in ALL?

Some may ask now why property prices are given in EUR, despite of the ALL (Albanian Lek) being the national currency. This is common in Albania since large prices would otherwise be rather hard to read. Imagine that currently for 1 EUR you get 122 ALL, a 100,000 EUR apartment would cost 12,200,000 ALL.

Even though you could pay in both ALL and EUR, prices above 1,000 EUR are commonly written in EUR and not in ALL.

Apart from that, Albanians prefer EUR over ALL to avoid confusion. In spoken Albanian, there is the distinction between old ALL and new ALL: the old ALL is commonly used in the spoken language and is 10 times the value of the new ALL. So, many Albanians would say that the 100,000 EUR apartment costs 122,200,000 ALL instead of 12,200,000 ALL. Using EURO to talk about big prices is thus straightforward. The transaction, though, could be done both in ALL and EUR.

What explains the (huge) differences in prices per square meter?

As you have seen, there are huge differences for the price per square meter. You could own a condo for as little as 450 EUR per square meter. On the other end of the spectrum, some apartments cost more than 2000 EUR per square meter. And all this in the very same city!

Besides the typical factors, the year of construction explains most variations in pricing.

Of course, the prices in Tirana are influenced by factors that are more or less the same worldwide. You do not need us to know that the property location, the view, the floor plan, and the physical state influence the property price in general. (If unknown, though, we would recommend this quora discussion, as a starting point.) All these factors determine the price of an apartment in Tirana, too. But, in Tirana there is one dominant influence.

The one influence that explains it all is: the year of construction. The year of construction is a good predictor of three other factors that drive the price. (1) It mostly determines if there is a proper entry in the land register. (2) It says a lot about the quality of the building, especially thermal isolation and building services. (3) Lastly, it tells you if there is an adequate property management.

The year of construction

Before 1991 These buildings are either historic or from the communist era. Let’s focus on those from the communist era. Most of the time, they have an entry in the land registry, which is good. However, they most of the time have a bad substance. Thermal isolation is usually missing. Building services are really old and improvised. Lastly, there is likely no property management. If you buy one of those, you have to invest a lot – the prices reflect this, as they are on the lower end.

Built before 1991, buildings most likely need a full restoration. Between 1991 and 2008, the paperwork might be missing. After 2008, the buildings are mostly solid investments – and pricey.

Between 1991 and 2008 In 1991, Albania adopted more or less over night both capitalism and democracy – coming from one of the harshest communist regimes in the world. The construction sector was booming. Even though there were regulations in place, only few respected them. You have a one-storey house? Why not add another four storeys! As you can imagine, the building quality is not always up to its best. As for the land registry – it could be that only parts of the building have been registered. Or nothing. On the upside, the substance is way better than the one from 1991. Some of these houses have good building services and thermal isolation. For some, a property management is available. For all of that diversity: these buildings see the largest variation in prices and require a lot of research.

After 2008 The Albanian administration more and more learned to condemn the construction fever. Most buildings built after 2008 follow high standards in building services and thermal isolation. Because the construction has to be announced, the buildings, too, have a proper entry in the land registry. Lastly, a property management takes good care about the building.

So, are buildings built after 2008 a safe buy? Most of the time, yes. But the price reflects this, too. Apart from that, there are only a few; even despite the recent booms in construction: many building constructions have been started, but not all of them have been or will be finished. For example, the Alban Tower (formerly Tirana Forever Green) remained a skeleton in the skyline of Tirana for almost a decade. The investor ran out of money.

The districts and their prices

While we were previously looking at prices as a whole, let us now look at the prices in the districts of tirana.

Map of prices

Below you will find an interactive map of Tirana. In it, we have drawn circles that stand for 34 districts in Tirana. We added colors to the circles, too: the more “red” a circle is, the more expensive it is. The more “white” a circle is, the cheaper it is.

If you hover over the circles, you will see a little tooltip, too. In it, we listed the range of prices per square meter. Most importantly, we provide you there with the answer you were looking for: how big will your apartment be if you invest 100,000 EUR?

For the data science nerds: the data we used to create this was sampled from different real estate agencies. Per district, we took five random price samples. This data, too, was used to create the previous chart. We used leaflet and custom javascript to create the map.

In the center you get the least bang for the buck

The most expensive districts are the one in the center: the districts of Blloku, Garda, Air Albania, and downtown are four times more expensive than the outskirts of Albania. If you manage to get more than 70 square meters for an investment of 100,000 EUR, then you are either really talented or something is suspicious.

The center of Tirana has all you need: both opportunities to make a living and a unique potpourri of clubs, cafes, restaurants and bars.

Now, where do these high prices come from? We see several causes. First and foremost, these districts are the core of Tirana. This is the area, where you want to live if you want to be considered a true citizen of Tirana. Indeed, people may treat you differently if they learn that your condo is in “Blloku”.

Besides this, the center of Tirana is where life and work happen at the same time. Here are a lot of offices and at the same time clubs, cafes, bars and restaurants. Especially Blloku has a thriving nightlife and invites to become a part of its pulsating vibe.

Traffic might be a reason, too, why the center and some outskirts are way more expensive.

Furthermore, the public transportation system in Tirana is – sorry for that – a catastrophy. In the center you can do almost anything by foot. Other than that, you are limited to either take your own car, a taxi or to go by bus. All those means of travel fight against tiresome and endless traffic jams. Travelling between the outskirts and the center might thus often take forever.

In Fresku, Porcelani, and Dogana you get a lot of space for little money

If you want to have a spacious apartment for 100,000 EUR, then look into the districts of Fresku, Porcelani, or Dogana. There, you might easily find an apartment with more than 150 square meters. Often, it will even be in a good condition.

Apartment are rather cheap over here since these districts are far away from the center. Furthermore, most people who consider Tirana their home shy away from those outskirts. They do not really see these districts as part of Tirana. Lastly, a lot had been built in those outskirts throughout the last decade – thus increasing the supply of spacious and affordable living space.

A honorable mention are the districts Farke and Sauk: even though it is seemingly far away from the city centre, too, they still are very well connected to it. You may drive on to the highway and be in comparatively little time in the center of Tirana. Moreover, they feature many exclusive and high quality villas – especially Sauk. These villas have attracted both economically succesful Albanians and many Expats. It is not surprising, that property prices here are the highest compared to the other outskirts of Tirana.

Closing Remarks

All in all, Tirana offers great investment opportunities. We are firm believers in a bright future and we deem that the property prices will reflect this. However, as you have read, there is a lot to consider when investing in Tirana.

Comments, Questions? Reach out to us on Social Media or via contact@albrev.com.