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Albania or a neighbour?
On Oct 26, 2026 the flats listed on Domlivo ask a median of €1,500 per m², 689 flats from €35,200. Statistics offices put new flats at €2,557/m² in Montenegro and €3,012/m² in Croatia; Bulgaria and Greece publish no average, only an index. Below: one table of prices, taxes and rules for the five countries with every source, who should pick which, and the Albanian flats that make the point.
Albanian median from the live listings on Domlivo, Oct 26, 2026; the rest are published figures with their period. Not sale prices.
Five countries share the same sea and sell to the same buyers, and the figures that can be compared say one thing: Albania is the cheapest by a clear margin. Deloitte's 2025 average for an Albanian dwelling is €1,720 per m²; Monstat counts new flats in Montenegro at €2,557 and €2,838 on the coast; Croatia's statistics office counts new flats sold at €3,012. On today's listings Albania sits about 41 % below the Montenegrin and 50 % below the Croatian figure.
Bulgaria and Greece cannot be put in the same column honestly: neither publishes an average price per m². What they publish is growth, and it is fast: Bulgaria's house prices rose 15.5 % in a year to Q2 2026 (Eurostat), Greek apartment prices 5.5 % to Q2 2026 after 8.3 % in 2025 and 9.1 % in 2024 (Bank of Greece). A buyer who wants the cheapest entry has already excluded them; a buyer who wants an EU residence permit for the money looks only at Greece's Golden Visa, from €400,000.
Price is half the choice. The other half is in the table: whether a foreigner may buy at all, what the state takes when you buy, hold, let and sell, which currency the deal is in, and whether the flat comes with a residence permit. Each cell names its basis; the sources are listed at the foot of the page with their dates, and the Albanian column updates itself from the live listings.
Published figures as of Oct 26, 2026; the Albanian price is live. A dash means the country publishes no comparable figure, not that it is zero.
| Criterion | Albania | Montenegro | Bulgaria | Croatia | Greece |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per m² | €1,500 median of flats listed on Domlivo (Oct 26, 2026); €1,720 average dwelling 2025 (Deloitte) | €2,557 new flats, Q2 2026 (Monstat) | no official average since 2014; NSI publishes an index only | €3,012 new flats sold, H1 2026 (Croatian Bureau of Statistics) | no official average per m²; the Bank of Greece publishes an index only |
| On the coast | by city in the live table below: Shëngjin, Durrës, Vlorë, Sarandë | €2,838 new flats, coastal region (Monstat) | no official figure | no separate official figure | no separate figure; the index for areas outside the big cities rose 7.1 % to Q2 2026 |
| Price change, year on year | +6.2 % in 2025 (Deloitte) | levels published by quarter, no annual rate in the series | +15.5 % house price index, Q2 2026 (Eurostat) | not compared here | +5.5 % apartment price index, Q2 2026; +8.3 % in 2025, +9.1 % in 2024 (Bank of Greece) |
| Tax when buying a resale flat | none for a private buyer; the 2 % tax on the transfer is the seller's | 3 % up to €150,000, 5 % up to €500,000, 6 % above (since 2024) | 0.1-3 %, set by each municipality | 3 %, paid by the buyer | 3.09 % (3 % plus the municipal surcharge); a rise to 15 % for non-EU buyers was announced for 2027, no law published yet |
| VAT on a new build | none on flats | 21 % on the first sale | 20 % | 25 % instead of the 3 % | 24 %, suspended until 31 December 2026 (Law 5246/2025) |
| Annual property tax | 0.05 % of the fiscal value | 0.25-1 % of market value | 0.01-0.45 % of the tax value | €0.60-8.00 per m² of floor area, set by the municipality | ENFIA, a scale per m² with a surcharge on larger holdings |
| Tax on rent | 15 % | 15 % after costs | 10 % | 12 % after a 30 % flat deduction | progressive, from 15 % |
| Tax on a sale | 15 % of the gain; until 31.12.2026 a revaluation at 5 % instead | 15 % of the gain; only the owner's main home is exempt | 10 %; a home held over three years is exempt, one a year | 24 % of the gain; none after two years | 15 % of the gain, suspended until 31 December 2026 |
| Who may buy | foreigners on the same terms as citizens; agricultural land only on a lease of up to 99 years or through a company | flats and houses yes; not agricultural or forest land, land within 1 km of the border or on islands | buildings yes; land for EU citizens under the accession-treaty conditions, farmland generally after five years' residence | EU citizens freely; non-EU citizens by reciprocity with the ministry's consent | EU citizens freely; non-EU citizens need a permit in border zones (many islands, Evros and others) |
| Currency | lek (prices quoted in euro) | euro, used without an agreement with the EU | euro since 1 January 2026 | euro since 2023 | euro |
| Residence by property | one-year permit for property owners, renewable, no minimum price (art. 84, Law 79/2021) | temporary residence on the basis of owning a dwelling, renewed yearly (law-firm guides) | not compared here | none by property purchase | Golden Visa: €800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands over 3,100 residents, €400,000 elsewhere, €250,000 for conversions and listed buildings; one property of at least 120 m² (Law 5100/2024) |
Albania: Domlivo Price Index (median asking €/m² of flats and studios listed for sale, recomputed hourly) and Deloitte Property Index 2026. Montenegro: Monstat, new residential buildings, Q2 2026. Croatia: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, new flats sold, H1 2026. Bulgaria: NSI and Eurostat house price index. Greece: Bank of Greece apartment price index, Q2 2026, provisional. Tax rates from the national tax administrations and PwC summaries; see the sources below. Figures measure slightly different things and are for orientation.
The honest reading of the table, by what you are after.
About 41 % below Montenegro and 50 % below Croatia on today's figures, no tax for the buyer on the purchase, no VAT on flats and an annual tax of a few tens of euros. The price of that is a currency outside the euro, a market where resale takes months, and no EU framework behind the deed.
Montenegro uses the euro and sells new flats at €2,557 per m², €2,838 on the coast, with a purchase tax that climbs to 6 % on dear flats and 21 % VAT on new builds. Residence comes with a dwelling. It suits a buyer who wants euro pricing and Budva-style resort life and accepts paying a third more than in Albania.
Croatia gives an EU deed, the euro and a sale that is tax-free after two years, at €3,012 per m² for a new flat and 25 % VAT. Bulgaria joined the euro area on 1 January 2026, taxes rent and gains at 10 % and has the cheapest Black Sea resorts in the EU, but publishes no price average and its prices rose 15.5 % in a year; its flats are the one honest alternative to Albania on price, in a different sea.
Greece is the only one of the five with a Golden Visa: €400,000 outside the big cities and islands, €800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the larger islands, one property of 120 m² or more. Albania gives a one-year, renewable permit to any property owner with no minimum price; it is a permit, not a path to an EU passport.
Bulgaria's index rose 15.5 % in the year to Q2 2026 and Greece's 5.5 % after 8.3 % and 9.1 % in the two years before; Albania's average rose 6.2 % in 2025. Growth already in the price is a cost to a buyer and a comfort to an owner: Albania is the one of the five where the catching-up is still ahead, with the risk that comes with it.
Investing in Albanian property: prices, rents, yields and taxes on one page
Median asking €/m² of flats and the cheapest flat by city, from the live listings, Oct 26, 2026. Each city opens its listings.
Shëngjin: the cheapest seaside market · How the index is computed · Albania by city and zone: the monthly price report
Flats and studios within 1 km of the sea or on the first line, ranked by price per m² against their city's median, at most 4 per city. Prices and availability as the listings state them.
Our two comparison articles with the full tax tables and sources: Albania, Bulgaria or Montenegro for a seaside flat, and Albania against Montenegro and Croatia.
Albania is the cheapest of the three on the figures that can be compared: about €1,720 per m² in 2025, against €2,557 for new flats in Montenegro. Bulgaria publishes no official price per square metre at all, only an index that rose 15.5% in a year. Bulgaria taxes rent and sale gains least and has used the euro since 1 January 2026.
Read more
Albania is the cheapest of the three: about €1,720 per m² on average in 2025, against €2,557 for new flats in Montenegro and about €3,000 in Croatia. It also has the lowest annual property tax. Croatia offers the euro, EU membership and the lightest tax on a long-held sale; Montenegro sits between the two. Here are the figures side by side.
Read moreShort answers with the figures from the table.
Yes. On Oct 26, 2026 the flats listed on Domlivo asked a median of €1,500 per m²; Monstat counts new flats in Montenegro at €2,557 and €2,838 on the coast in Q2 2026. The Albanian figure covers every listed flat, the Montenegrin only new ones, so the gap on like-for-like new builds is somewhat smaller; Deloitte's 2025 average of €1,720 for Albania points the same way.
Than Croatia, by about 50 %: new flats sold there averaged €3,012 per m² in H1 2026 against €1,500 for the flats listed on Domlivo. Greece publishes no average per m²; its apartment price index rose 5.5 % in the year to Q2 2026, after 8.3 % in 2025, and asking prices on the islands and the Athens Riviera run well above the Albanian coast.
A flat or a house: yes in all five. The limits are on land. Albania excludes agricultural land (lease up to 99 years or a company). Montenegro excludes agricultural and forest land, land within a kilometre of the border and islands. Bulgaria lets EU citizens own land under its accession treaty and asks five years' residence for farmland. Croatia lets EU citizens buy freely and non-EU citizens by reciprocity with the ministry's consent. Greece lets EU citizens buy freely and asks non-EU citizens for a permit in border zones, which include many islands.
Greece, through the Golden Visa: €800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands over 3,100 residents, €400,000 elsewhere, €250,000 for conversions and listed buildings, one property of at least 120 m² (Law 5100/2024). Albania gives a one-year, renewable permit to any property owner with no minimum price (art. 84, Law 79/2021). Montenegro grants temporary residence on the basis of owning a dwelling. Croatia has no permit by purchase.
On a resale flat: nothing in Albania (the 2 % is the seller's), 3 % in Croatia, 3.09 % in Greece, 0.1-3 % in Bulgaria by municipality, 3-6 % in Montenegro by price band. On a new build: no VAT in Albania, 20 % in Bulgaria, 21 % in Montenegro, 25 % in Croatia, 24 % in Greece but suspended until the end of 2026. Each year: 0.05 % of fiscal value in Albania, 0.01-0.45 % in Bulgaria, 0.25-1 % in Montenegro, €0.60-8 per m² in Croatia, ENFIA in Greece.
The euro in Montenegro (used without an EU agreement), Bulgaria (since 1 January 2026), Croatia (since 2023) and Greece. Albania keeps the lek; coastal flats are priced and usually paid in euro, the notarial deed states the lek value, and your bank's conversion is a cost to budget for.
Every foreign figure on this page comes from one of these publications; the Albanian median is the Domlivo Price Index at Oct 26, 2026. Figures are rechecked when a new quarterly or annual release appears.
