Offices and hotels in Tirana: record office rents, hotel towers in question

Tirana's commercial property market is sending two opposite signals. On one side, office rents in the new towers have reached up to €40 per square metre a month, more than in Lisbon or Budapest. On the other, hotel operators say the capital is an "almost mature" market, while dozens of towers have been designed and approved as hotels. In between are the banks, where loans for commercial real estate now make up almost a quarter of the loan book. Here is what the summer 2026 data says and what it means for investors, owners and businesses looking for an office.

Cover photo: Allen Boguslavsky / Pexels

Offices: rents on a par with Barcelona

According to Colliers Albania data for the second half of 2025, published by Monitor on 30 July 2026, the average office rent in central Tirana reached €30/m² a month, the same as in Barcelona and Prague.

Within Tirana, the differences are large:

Stela Dhami of Colliers attributes the rise to higher construction costs, the weaker euro and demand for offices built to higher standards (Monitor, 30 July 2026). In other words, the high rents do not apply to every office: they belong to new, central buildings built to international standards. An office in a residential block in a secondary area is in a completely different market.

Photo: Suzana Çakçiri / Pexels

Hotels: the coast wins, Tirana is saturated

On 26 September 2026 Monitor published an analysis of Albania's 20 largest hotels. Their revenue in 2025 reached about 15.4 billion lekë, up 16%, but most of it comes from the coast.

Behar Male, a shareholder in The Plaza Tirana hotel, told Monitor that Tirana's market is almost mature: raising revenue means raising prices, but that drives customers away. The competition comes from short-term rentals. According to Monitor, short-term rental platforms generated €134 million in 2025, equal to 80% of the revenue of the 20 largest hotels, and listed units grew from 6,000 in 2021 to 26,300 in 2025. In Tirana, a night on Airbnb costs €42.40 on average, while mid-range hotels charge €119–200.

Revenue of the 20 largest hotels in 2025 (+16%)

15.4bn lekë

Short-term rental revenue in 2025

€134m

Short-term rental units listed in 2025 (6,000 in 2021)

26,300

Average Airbnb nightly rate in Tirana

€42.40

Another factor is the exchange rate: the euro fell from 123 lekë in 2019 to 97.8 lekë in 2025, which according to Monitor cut operators' revenue by about 20%, while their costs remain mostly in lekë.

What happens to the hotel towers

The main question Monitor raises is simple: what will happen to the towers approved as hotels, often with extra floors and tax incentives, if the market has no guests for them? Male expects many of them to become offices, apartments or other commercial uses (SkyWeb, 27 September 2026, based on Monitor). It is not yet clear how the permits will be treated if the use changes once construction is finished.

Photo: Sara Brahollari / Pexels

This matters for the office market too. If some hotel towers are converted to offices, the supply of premium office space could rise quickly, and today's record rents may not last. For the housing market, conversion to apartments would add supply in the centre.

The banks and the risk

On 18 September 2026 Moody's raised Albania's outlook from "stable" to "positive", keeping the rating at Ba3, but warned about risks from the real estate market. According to Monitor, citing Moody's and banking data, at the end of 2025 home-purchase loans made up 26.8% of the loan book and commercial real estate loans 24.3%, about 470 billion lekë in total; by May 2026 the total had reached 477 billion lekë, up 12.5% on a year earlier (Monitor, 20 September 2026).

At the same time, construction is slowing: according to Lexo, construction turnover in 2025 was about 646 billion lekë, up only 4%, and its contribution to economic growth was 0.5 percentage points, the lowest in five years (Lexo, 27 September 2026).

What this means for you

If you are buying a hotel unit or "apart-hotel" as an investment in Tirana, ask for real occupancy data and do not rely on the developer's projections. Monitor's figures show the market is saturating.

If you own an office, the high rents belong to the premium segment. Compare your office with similar buildings, not with the records set by new towers.

If you are looking for an office for your business, negotiate longer leases and watch new supply: if hotel towers switch to offices, tenants' bargaining power may grow.

See commercial property in Tirana or compare a property's value with our valuation tool.

Sources

• Monitor: Tirana among the most expensive markets, tower office rents reach €40/m² (in Albanian), 30 July 2026
• Monitor: The chaotic model of hotel development, Tirana a mature market, what will happen to the towers? (in Albanian), 26 September 2026
• SkyWeb: The "death" of the towers, what happens now to permits issued in Tirana? (in Albanian), 27 September 2026
• Monitor: Moody's warns Albania about a shock that could come from the real estate market (in Albanian), 20 September 2026
• Lexo: Is construction approaching a downturn again? (in Albanian), 27 September 2026