How Locals Really Feel About the Growing Demand for Property in Saranda

I still remember when Saranda was sleepy in the off-season. After September, the cafés would go quiet. The promenade emptied out. You could walk from the port to the end of town and not pass more than a handful of people. That was maybe… ten, fifteen years ago?

Fast forward to now, and it’s a different place entirely.

Apartments are selling before they’re even built. New construction sites pop up every few months. You see more foreign plates than local ones during the summer. And if you walk into a bakery in August, there’s a good chance the person in front of you is asking for byrek in German or French.

So what do the locals think about all this?

Well… it depends who you ask.

The Proud Hosts

There’s a group of locals who’ve fully embraced the change. They’ve opened guesthouses, invested in beachfront property, renovated their old family homes into charming rentals.

My cousin, for example, turned his grandparents’ two-story stone house above the old mosque into a summer rental. It wasn’t easy—had to redo the roof, put in plumbing, tile the floors. But now, it rents for over €120 a night in July.

He told me the first guests were a retired couple from Norway who arrived with only two backpacks and a bottle of their local aquavit. They stayed two weeks and promised to come back every summer. And they did.

People like my cousin are proud. They feel like ambassadors for the Albanian Riviera. And honestly, they are.

The Quiet Observers

Then there are the quiet ones. The families that have lived in Saranda for generations but haven’t sold or built or listed anything on Airbnb.

They watch. They comment. They compare.

Some are skeptical. Not angry, just unsure. I’ve heard more than one older gentleman sitting outside a café say something like, “Këto janë për të huajt, jo për ne.” (“These things are for foreigners, not for us.”)

And there’s some truth to that. Many of the newer buildings are priced beyond the reach of a typical local salary. Saranda apartments for sale—especially with a sea view—can easily go for €2,000 per square meter or more. For someone making €500–700 a month, those numbers don’t make sense.

But at the same time, I’ve also seen young couples get creative. Renting long-term, partnering with family, even pooling savings to buy smaller units off-plan—especially in projects like White Residence, where early buyers got the best deals.

It’s not easy. But some are making it work.

The Ones Who Regret Not Acting Sooner

I’ll tell you the most common thing I hear from locals these days:

“I should’ve bought something two years ago.”

I heard that just last week, again. I was showing a newly finished seaview apartment near Rruga Butrinti, and a man from Gjirokastër who’s lived here since the ‘90s pulled me aside. He said he’d looked at a 1-bedroom unit in the same building when it was under construction. Back then it was €75,000. Now? Over €100,000, easily.

He wasn’t angry. More… disappointed in himself.

That’s becoming a common feeling here, and not just with locals. Even Albanians living abroad—especially those in Italy or Greece—feel like they’ve missed the window. I don’t think they have, to be honest. Prices are still relatively low compared to the rest of the Mediterranean. Saranda is still full of affordable properties if you know where to look and you’re early enough in the build.

Take this villa in Borsh, for example. It’s modern, legal, with a pool and panoramic views. And for the price, it’s unmatched anywhere else on the coast between Montenegro and Greece.