Fifty square metres in Centar. One hundred and sixty-eight thousand euros. That is 3,360 euros per square metre, and it is the highest price for a new flat sold directly by a developer in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Register of Prices and Rents.

Every young person in Skopje has done that arithmetic in their head at least once, usually around midnight: how many years of work is a flat like that. The answer is the reason the calculation usually stops right there.

The record for older stock is in Ohrid: a 66-square-metre flat sold for 211,200 euros, or 3,200 euros per square metre. An old flat. In Ohrid. At a price that buys new-build across much of Europe.

The market isn't cooling - it's heating up

Between April and June, 8,369 transactions were registered, up 7.9 percent on the first quarter. The market's total value reached 351.7 million euros - a 27.3 percent rise in three months. The number of flats sold rose by 37 percent, their financial value by 43 percent.

Look closely at the gap between those two numbers. Flats sold: up 37 percent. Money: up 43 percent. When value climbs faster than volume, it means one thing: nobody is selling more, they are selling dearer.

There were 977 registered sales by developers, of which 943 were flats and 34 houses. That is 231 more new flats than the previous quarter, a 32 percent rise. And the cadastre agency has 28,352 pre-registration sheets for construction on file - buildings still going up that will hit the market soon.

Who is buying?

The most flats were sold in the municipality of Aerodrom - 297. The most houses in the municipality of Bitola - 64. The most commercial premises in Centar, with 33 registered transactions. For agricultural and construction land, Kumanovo leads with 79 and 45 transactions. Also sold: 203 garages, with the number up 34 percent and the value up 46 percent.

Garages are a thrilling indicator precisely because nobody watches them. When garages jump nearly half in value, that isn't a story about housing need - that is a story about money looking for somewhere to sit.

In total, the second quarter saw property sold covering over 7.8 million square metres, worth 21.55 billion denars. All those figures climb at once, in a country people are leaving. Is there really a shortage of flats, or a shortage of flats anyone can actually afford?