Radivoje Nijemčević, "Spiegelfeld International" - We are interested in construction of social residential facilities in Belgrade

- Belgrade's real estate market, the citizens of our capital city in particular, lacks residential buildings with standardized rental fee. There are very few examples of investors who rent all the housing units in a building, and the existing facilities of that type are intended only for selected clients. In addition to investments by private investors and favorable banking loans, construction of such facilities for broader community has to be supported by the public sector, that is, the city or the state - says Radivoje Nijemčević, the CEO of Serbian branch office of Austrian real estate company "Spiegelfeld", which is interested in implementation of such project in Serbia.

- "Spiegelfeld" has been thinking for a long time about finding the location and animating the interested parties to participate in construction where one square meter of housing space would have to cost between 600 and 800 EUR. Based on that calculation, later rental of an apartment of 50 square meters would not cost more than 250 EUR per month. The participants in implementation of that project would have to be investor, a bank and the state, as well as the future tenant who could invest minimum amount of money, let's say about 5,000 EUR, while the rest would be repaid over the period of 20 to 30 years. That is one of the variants that can be applied to Serbian market, and that is not a classical lease because these apartments become the possession of tenants some day - says Nijemčević and points out that such model is frequently in use in western countries when tenants are financially capable.

Mr. Nijemčević told "eKapija" that the construction of about 500 apartments of 60-80 square meters would be enough for the start, and such complex should comprise supermarket, kindergarten and all necessary contants for quality social life.

- Of course, it is also necessary to find the agency that would take care of maintenance in such buildings. These apartments are not social as far as quality of construction or housing conditions are concerned.

Zinshaus

Nearly 60% of apartments in Vienna are leased, and one of the reasons for that is so-called "zinshaus", that is, the buildings that were built during the rule of Austria-Hungary monarchy, between 1860 and 1914. These buildings are now in private possession, but the apartments in them are rented to tenants on the period of several decades. As Nijemčević explains, what makes these buildings specific is the time of their construction, the ownership structure, and the regulations governing them. Such facilities can be found all around Vienna today, that is, in all of its rings.

- There is a special law for such "zinshaus" buildings that completely defines the terms of lease. The rental fee amounts to about 4.7 EUR per square meter, and it usually depends on the location, the building itself, size, number of floors, view, etc. All additional costs are paid by the tenants, and there is also the possibility of transfer of tenancy right on condition that the tenant registered that address as his or her home address. Thanks to the strict law, Vienna remained stable when it comes to the prices of properties even at the time of the global crisis. It is important to mention that the owners of such buildings hire authorized agencies to do the "proprety management" for them - says Nijemčević.

Tenants in "zinshaus" buildings are mainly people from the middle class, but these buildings also comprise large and luxurious apartments that are rented by rich citizens of Vienna.

According to the words of Nijemčević, these facilities are of excellent quality, with healthy materials and ceilings 4 meters high, while maximum number of floors is four. The contractors wanted to make the exterior remarkable, while the equipping of interior was in the background, and the units are mainly smaller in size.

- When the private investors started to purchase them from their owners some 20, 30 years ago, they had them refurbished, equipped, rented, and then the whole package was offered for sale. Some of them bought up to 200 apartments, and "Spiegelfeld" alone sold 67 reconstructed and organized buildings few years ago.

What is interesting, as Nijemčević explains, is that many buildings had attics that had never been used and whose organization was regulated by the Law. However, these apartments were later sold at significantly higher prices, that is, they did not belong to the category of "zinshaus".

- I've tried to find at least one facility similar to "zinshaus" in Belgrade, but I've failed because the ownership structure is not the same as in Austria, that is, there are no buildings with tenants only. That process in Serbia was much different due to nationalization - says Nijemčević.