Flat prices in Macedonia rose by more than 16 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. That puts the country at the very top of the world for property price growth, according to the latest Global House Price Index from analysts Knight Frank, which tracks 55 housing markets.

Only Turkey, with nominal growth of 26.2 percent, and Hungary, with 21.4 percent, are ahead. The group with growth above 16 percent includes, alongside Macedonia, Portugal and Croatia. For comparison, the average nominal growth across all 55 markets is a modest 1.4 percent - the weakest pace since the third quarter of 2024.

The world is cooling, Macedonia isn't. Once inflation is stripped out, the global picture flips: real residential property prices worldwide fell by 1.7 percent, according to Knight Frank. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) records a real global decline of 1.2 percent. Macedonia is the exception here too - according to the BIS, real annual price growth in the country is around 13 percent. So this isn't just inflation lifting every number equally. Flats are getting more expensive much faster than prices in general.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, prices are falling. In mainland China flats got 6.3 percent cheaper, in Canada 5 percent. The Macedonian market, evidently, doesn't read global trends.

Limited supply of flats in urban centres and financing conditions are cited as factors. But behind the percentages sits a much simpler calculation. If a 60-square-metre flat cost 60,000 euros, 16 percent growth means around 9,600 euros more for the same flat - in a single year.

Who has that kind of money? A young family looking for its first home would struggle to save it in a year. The question the index doesn't ask, but every buyer asks themselves, is simple: how much longer can the price per square metre keep jumping before it loses all connection with wages?