Is it better to rent or to buy an apartment in Albania?

The example is a 55 m² one-bedroom flat in the Durrës beach district (Plazh), the kind of flat most foreign buyers on Domlivo look at. The price is the Durrës index median per square metre at 23 October 2026; the rent is the September 2026 median asking rent. Change the price in the purchase cost calculator and the rent in the rental yield calculator to fit the flat you have in mind.

There is no transfer tax for a buyer of a flat in Albania. You pay the notary (a percentage of the price on a sliding scale, 0.35% at EUR 45,000 and less above), the ASHK registration of 5,000 lek, and, if you came through an agency, usually 1% of the price; the seller pays the 3% commission. Domlivo's working figure for all buyer costs is about 2.5% of the price, which is far below the 7-12% common in Italy, Germany or Poland and the main reason buying pays off quickly here.

Owning is cheap too. The annual building tax is 0.05% of the reference value (about EUR 20 a year for a 55 m² flat in Durrës), municipal cleaning and lighting fees about EUR 65 a year, and the building administration 400-1,200 lek a month depending on the block. Utilities are the same whether you rent or own.

• You have not lived in the town through a winter. Durrës, Vlorë and Sarandë empty out from October to May, and many holiday flats have no heating. A 9-month winter lease costs EUR 200-350 a month for a beach 1+1 in Durrës and tells you more than any viewing.
• You may leave within about three years. Buying and selling together cost about 5.5-6% of the price in fees and commissions, plus 15% tax on any gain, so a short stay rarely recovers them even in a rising market.
• Your budget needs a euro mortgage for more than 75% of the price. Banks lend at most 75% in euro (85% in lek) and the instalment may not exceed 35% of your income; foreigners are financed case by case.
• You want flexibility between Tirana and the coast, or between Albania and another country.

• You will stay, or come back every year, for five years or more. At EUR 390 a month you pay EUR 23,400 of rent in five years; the same money is a quarter of the Durrës flat above.
• You pay in cash. Then your yearly cost of owning is a few hundred euro of fees and taxes, against EUR 4,680 of rent, and you keep the flat's value, which the Bank of Albania's house price index put 28% higher at the end of 2025 than a year earlier (no one can promise that continues).
• You want a residence permit based on property. Owning a flat, with no minimum value, gives the right to a one-year renewable permit under Article 84 of Law 79/2021; renting does not.
• You want the flat to pay for itself when you are away. Beach flats in Durrës earn a gross 5.7% on a yearly lease and more by the night in summer; management companies take 10-30% of that.

Before you decide, put your own figures into the two calculators: the purchase cost calculator shows the fees for any price, the rental yield calculator what a flat earns. Then compare the flats on Domlivo at the price the index says is typical for the town.