Condominiums attract clients with richness of content – Construction of this type of residential complexes remains limited to Belgrade for now

As people grow busier while free time dwindles, the desire for a comfortable life and demands for the nearness of markets, sports courts, children's playgrounds and safety become imperative to potential apartment purchasers. This is the reason why condominiums – residential complexes which offer everything a busy environment needs to make life simpler, easier and safer – are growing increasingly popular in the market.

These indoor complexes offer central reception 24 hours a day, video surveillance, professional maintenance, a private park with features for all ages, sports courts, pools and similar features. Furthermore, these residential complexes also solve the problem of the lack of parking space.

In Serbia, however, this type of residential space is available only to citizens of Belgrade for now. This May, let us remind, the construction of the first condominium in New Belgrade, Wellport, was announced.

The complex, in which EUR 130 million will be invested, is to be built by the Israeli company Shikun & Binui Group, known to the Serbian public for the construction of complexes Central Garden and Vozdove Kapije, also in the form of condominiums.

Mina Kalezic, Sales and Marketing Director of CBS International, the leading real estate consulting company, which has been put in charge of the exclusive sale of these apartments, says for our portal that, since the sale officially started, the reactions of the market to the new complex in New Belgrade have been incredible.

– As life today is more hectic than ever, the need for a home which offers the absolute privacy of a private park, tucked in on all sides and protected from the pulsating central business zone is a natural step in the development of this part of the city – Kalezic points out and adds that Wellport is also an excellent investment due to the proximity of business complexes which feature a large number of international employees, who are ideal renters when it comes to this type of real estate.

Explaining the increasing popularity of condominiums, our interviewee says that the concept has been adopted from markets far more mature than ours, and the reason is that the pace of life is incomparably greater today than even ten years ago.

– Considering that, at the moment, the demand far exceeds the supply, both foreign and local investors are trying to meet clients' expectations. Furthermore, with the entrance of foreign investors, the competitiveness of the offer has led to increasingly sophisticated demands by clients, who demand more from each new project – Kalezic points out.

When asked what the maintenance costs amount to for the owners, our interviewee says that the price depends on several parameters – the location, the scope of the project, the degree of sophistication of the equipment, the type of heating and cooling, the size of the private park and the type of features present, and that it ranges from 0.45 to 0.60 cents per square meter on average.

However, even with their great popularity and the advantages they offer to clients, condominiums also cost more per square meter, and at the moment, there is not a lot of room for such complexes outside of Belgrade.

– Outside of Belgrade, it would be possible to build a condominium in Novi Sad and maybe in Nis, whereas other cities unfortunately cannot yet generate the demand – Kalezic explains.

In the meantime, the demand in Belgrade is not dropping. Central Garden is in the final stage of the sale, Kalezic specifies, whereas Vozdove Kapije is making progress when it comes to the sale and the construction within the second phase, and the third phase of the construction of the condominium is therefore expected to start in late 2018.

More than an apartment purchase

Condominiums were also the topic of this year's REBEC, a conference which promotes topics related to the development of investments in real estate, and based on the trends discussed, the further development in the real estate market will favor this type of apartment construction.

New buildings, as was pointed out at the gathering, is the primary choice of the clients, mostly because new complexes with a larger number residential units provide more than an apartment – a whole concept with a multitude of accompanying features, which make for a whole new quality of life.

The importance and the quality of the “final product” when it comes to the purchase of real estate is also emphasized by Djura Stanic, the Managing Director of Merin Asset Management.

– Purchasers have become more aware when it comes to the quality of the construction, the importance of garages and parking space and central reception, and security and many other features make life easier – he said.

In addition to standard requests, such as a favorable location and a good price, clients' demands pertain primarily to accompanying features, the number of floors, the view, sun orientation...

S.P.