Some say that success combined with self-esteem automatically results in pretensions. Now, as much as such tendency is downright ridiculous, BeoApartman, in its own right, has become a self-proclaimed chronicler of the journey called apartments in Belgrade (somewhat consistently to the “vision” that inspired this blog). There’s quite a bit to be said on the topic; the processes taking place on the short term rental market in Belgrade have been described in many times business textbooks and they all point in one direction – market maturity. Since it’s slightly superfluous to try to scare off the participants of the process with the inevitable (the suppliers that is, not the consumers, as they are looking at good times only), we have decided to make let the cat out of the bag with a short retrospect of the best things that have happened to the market in the previous months.
As there is now quite a bit of tangible results of the engagement of high profile interior designers, we may ascertain that apartments in Belgrade have insofar suffered on the account of the profession’s inertia. Since the last update, a number of flats have appeared that have raised the interior design quality bar sky high, and yet somehow, managed to stay in the mid price range. Traditional suppliers, who have failed to recognize the trend (or continued with a questionable ethical approach to business), are gradually being pushed out by the new entrants with fresh outlooks.
The maturity of the market can also be recognized by some other occurrences, comparable to innovations in other branches of entrepreneurship that aim to maintain growth. For instance, some of the apartments appeared in unthinkably fine locations… or they’d have been unthinkably fine a year ago. A fine example of this trend is the two bedroom apartment COLORADO, which happens to have its own parking spot.
The increasing number of suppliers and a notable fall in demand has resulted in serious price drops. Cheap apartments have seen an influx of great entries, so the whole segment is being redefined. Lastly, both the number and the demand for large apartments is on the rise. The previous period has brought about quite a few of duplexes with two terraces, two bathroom and two bedrooms.
At the end of the day, the consumer habits (and expectations for that matter) are gradually changing and adapting to the current situation. One might argue that there is a general sophistication taking place on all fronts. A sophistication that anyone even remotely interested in apartments in Belgrade has to enjoy.