Apartments in Saranda, Albania: neighbourhoods, 2026 prices and how to check building permits

Apartments in Saranda, Albania, usually sell for 1,500 to 3,500 € per m², according to a local real estate agent quoted by Monitor in April 2026, who says prices have not changed since 2025. A resort under development in Ksamil is asking 5,000 to 6,000 € per m², while the official reference price for the town, a tax value rather than a market price, is 56,000 lek per m². Before you pay, check the building permit, the number of floors and the ownership certificate: in September 2026, the police announced the court-ordered seizure of a five-storey hotel in Ksamil which, according to them, had been built without a permit.

Price per m² of apartments in Saranda according to an agent quoted by Monitor, April 2026

1,500 to 3,500 €

Official reference price per m² in the town of Saranda, about 611 € (DCM no. 457/2023)

56,000 lek

Average water supply of the Saranda regional utility in 2024, up from 10 hours (ERRU)

21 hours a day

Average time to sell a home on the coast, first half of 2026 (Bank of Albania)

8.2 months

How much does an apartment in Saranda cost in 2026?

According to the agent quoted by Monitor on 18 April 2026, a square metre of apartment in Saranda costs 1,500 to 3,500 €, unchanged since 2025. Demand, he says, has dipped slightly, but sales continue and are dominated by foreigners with budgets of 120,000 to 150,000 €, while for most locals these prices are out of reach.

The sharpest rise had happened earlier. According to agents quoted by Monitor in January 2024, minimum sale values were 1,200 to 1,700 € per m² in 2022 and 1,500 to 2,500 € in 2023, while seafront properties with large terraces reached 3,000 to 3,500 €. One agent noted at the time that new buildings 500 to 1,000 metres from the sea were coming onto the market at almost the same prices as those on the front line.

These are asking prices and agents' estimates, not recorded transaction prices. Listing prices on hyrja.al, when there are enough listings for an average, are on the apartment prices in Saranda page.

The reference price and the proposal for the coast

The reference price is the tax value per m² that the state sets for homes: 56,000 lek for the town of Saranda, about 611 € at the official exchange rate of 9 October 2026. Ksamil has no row of its own in the table; for administrative units outside the town, the decision allows a reduction of up to 35% compared with the nearest zone, except in residential zones (Decision of the Council of Ministers, DCM no. 457/2023).

In January 2026, Monitor reported that a government draft decision raises this value to 100,000 lek per m² for Saranda's front line (the promenade, the port and the neighbourhoods above the sea) and for the Ksamil coast. As of 10 October 2026, the Official Journal had not published any new decision on these prices. Where the reference price is used, from the notary to the tax when you sell, is explained in our article on the reference price.

For a budget of 130,000 €, the calculator works out the notary and ASHK (State Cadastre Agency, Agjencia Shtetërore e Kadastrës) fees; all costs are on the buying costs page.

Saranda's neighbourhoods: which one suits you?

Saranda lies on a bay of the Ionian Sea, facing Corfu, and climbs the hills around it. For a buyer, the town and its surroundings divide into four areas with different characters.

The promenade and the centre

The front line along the bay, from the port along the promenade (the lungomare), is the area that the draft decision on reference prices puts in the highest category. This is where you find buildings with direct sea views, but also the summer traffic, which according to the Albanian Road Authority passes through the centre. In summer 2023, a tour operator told Monitor that even apartments on the fifth street behind the promenade had been turned into tourist accommodation. Listings with sea views, in Saranda and along the rest of the coast, are under apartments with sea views for sale.

Photo: Arlind D / Pexels

The hills above the town

The neighbourhoods on the hills above the centre, towards the Monastery of the 40 Saints and Lëkurësi Castle, look out over the bay and Corfu. The view comes at a price, but it is not guaranteed: before you buy, check in the General Local Plan (Plani i Përgjithshëm Vendor, the municipal zoning plan) what may be built on the plots below you.

“Butrinti” Street, towards Ksamil

“Butrinti” Street starts from “Skënderbeu” Street and runs about 3.5 km to the Çuka channel, in the direction of Ksamil. According to the technical report of the Albanian Development Fund (FSHZH), the asphalt has been damaged partly by heavy construction traffic from new buildings in this area; in November 2025, FSHZH announced the winner of a contract of about 2 million euros to upgrade the road. If you buy in a building under construction here, tie your payments to construction stages, as we explain in buying an apartment off-plan.

Ksamil

Ksamil, to the south, is part of the Municipality of Saranda and the place where the highest prices have been reported, with beaches, small islands and resorts under development. It lies next to Butrint National Park, which according to UNESCO serves as the site's buffer zone, while the site itself faces pressure from roads and urban expansion around it. On 23 September 2026, the State Police announced the seizure in Ksamil of a 5-storey building and a 1-storey building which, according to them, had been built without a permit for hotel services; the hotel still had guests inside. A week later, according to Saranda Web, the Saranda Court lifted the seizure of the hotel, on the grounds that it had a building permit and a property number different from the property the Prosecutor's Office had targeted. What you can legally buy in Ksamil is covered in our guide to Ksamil after the demolitions.

Access: Butrint, Corfu and the bypass

Butrint, a World Heritage Site since 1992 and extended in 1999, lies about 20 km from the town; since 2005 it has been a national park of 86 km² (UNESCO). Corfu is just across the water: the Corfu-Saranda ferry lines bring tourists who rent cars for the Riviera, from Ksamil to Dhërmi, according to a tour operator interviewed by Monitor in July 2023.

Summer traffic remains the weak point. In October 2025, the Albanian Road Authority announced the winner of a contract of about 18 million euros for the first phase of the Saranda bypass: about 3.1 km of new road with a 760-metre tunnel, from the junction with “Skënderbeu” Street at the entrance to the town to the Saranda-Himara national road on the other side of the hill. In the sources we reviewed we found no published completion date, so do not factor the bypass into the price you pay.

Short-term rentals and the season: what an apartment earns

Many buyers in Saranda also see the apartment as a source of income from short-term rentals. According to AirDNA data published by Monitor on 9 February 2025, Saranda had about 3,200 listed units in 2024, 15% of the national total, and about 15 million euros in revenue. For prices, AirDNA reports Saranda and Vlora together: in August 2024 a night cost about 95 € on average, while in the other months, except January to March, it was 60 to 80 €. In summer, apartments were occupied about 60% of the time.

For summer 2026, Top Channel quoted an investment expert on 29 July: up to early July, occupancy was 41% in Saranda, against 64% in Tirana and about 60% in Vlora, with an average price of about 120 € per night in Saranda. The comparison with other towns is in where short-term rentals earn the most.

For long-term rentals we found no published figures for Saranda; in January 2024, an agent quoted by Monitor expected them to rise, because many foreigners were renting apartments for one or several years instead of buying. When you do not run it as a business, rent is taxed at 15% as investment income (Law no. 29/2023, Articles 15 and 24); the tax office's checks on platforms are covered in the 15% tax on short-term rentals.

Who is buying in Saranda?

According to the Bank of Albania, in the first half of 2026 about 20% of homes sold nationwide were bought by non-residents, about 85% of them from EU countries, and their share has grown over the past five years. In Saranda, according to agents, the share is much larger: a local agent told Monitor in January 2024 that 90% of the properties sold the previous season had been bought by foreigners, mainly from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, followed by Czechs and Poles.

In April 2026, the same agent said demand now comes from many nationalities and that one of the main reasons for buying is short-term rental. The Bank of Albania survey also gives a signal for sellers: the average time to sell a home in coastal areas fell to 8.2 months from 9.9. If you are buying property in Albania from abroad, the steps are in our guide to buying from abroad and the 2026 changes in buying property for foreigners and the diaspora.

How to check permits after the demolitions in the south

After the demolitions and seizures of summer 2026 on the southern coast, checking the permit is the first step, not a formality. What happened, and why the buyer loses out when a building is demolished or confiscated, we have explained in how not to buy a property without a permit in the south. For Saranda, start with the town plan.

The General Local Plan is the municipality's plan that sets what may be built in each zone, and how much. Saranda's plan was approved by the National Territorial Council on 16 October 2017, revised in December 2020 and corrected in July 2022. It divides the territory into structural units, each with its own development indicators, and has separate maps for Saranda and for Ksamil, published by the National Territorial Planning Agency. Ask the seller which unit the building falls into and compare what the plan allows with what you see on the ground.

How to get the certificate and what to read in it is explained in our article on the ownership certificate.

Water and electricity: what to ask before buying

Water supply has been the area's weak point, but the latest data show an improvement. According to the Water Regulatory Authority (ERRU), the Saranda regional water utility, which also covers Delvina, Finiq and Konispol, supplied water on average 10 hours a day in 2022 and 2023 and 21 hours a day in 2024, after new investments were completed.

Non-revenue water, that is water that is lost or not billed, fell to 45.63% in 2025 from 57.59% in 2024. ERRU considers that the utility has enough water sources, but a 24-hour supply remains a goal, while sewers covered about 49% of the area's population in 2024. In September 2026, the government approved expropriations for the project “Construction of the Çukë-Bërbënesh water supply” in the Municipality of Saranda, in favour of the National Water Supply and Sewerage Agency (DCM no. 683, dated 11.9.2026).

The household tariff is 60 lek per m³ of water and 25 lek per m³ for sewerage, plus 200 lek a month per connection, under ERRU decision no. 205/2021, in force since 1 July 2021. When you view an apartment, ask the neighbours what the supply is like in August and whether the building has a water tank and pump; the other points are in checking an apartment before buying.

For electricity, the Transmission System Operator (OST) opened a tender of about 5 million euros in August 2026 for a new 110 kV Saranda-Xarra line, with about 20 km of overhead line and works at the Saranda substation.

Saranda is not the only option on the coast. The comparison with Durrës, Golem, Shëngjin and Vlora is in where to buy a holiday apartment, Vlora's neighbourhoods in Vlora from the Lungomare to Uji i Ftohtë, and all coastal locations in coastal properties.