Studios and small apartments up to 45 m² for sale in Tirana, Albania

Apartments of up to 45 m² for sale in Tirana ask a median of €80,000, or €2,424 per square metre; half of them sit between €75,000 and €98,000 and the cheapest start around €37,500. Small flats cost more per square metre than large ones everywhere in Albania, because the kitchen and bathroom cost the same whatever the size, so compare the total price rather than the price per metre with the full market of apartments for sale in Tirana.

In Albanian a studio is a garsonierë and a one-bedroom flat with a separate living room is a 1+1; listings under 45 m² include both, and a 1+1 of 40 m² in a holiday complex is the most common unit in this band. 23% of these small flats are still under construction, sold from plans in coastal complexes; the rest are older flats in towns and a few new micro-units in Tirana.

Tirana's small flats are of two kinds: new micro-units and 1+1 flats in the towers around the centre and Blloku, bought for the rental market, and small older flats in the outer districts and along the Durrës road. A studio here lets to a student or a young professional all year, which is why investors who want twelve months of rent choose Tirana over the coast.

Studios ask the highest rent per square metre in Albania, about €10/m² a month against €7/m² for a two-bedroom flat, and they are the easiest unit to let to a single tenant in Tirana or to holidaymakers on the coast. The catch is the season: a seaside studio earns its year in ten summer weeks and comes to about 4 to 6% net over twelve months after empty months, cleaning and the flat 15% tax on rental income; a Tirana studio with a year-round tenant returns 5 to 7% gross with far less work. Building charges, electricity and the annual property tax of about 0.05% of value are small on a flat this size. Our guide to rents in Albania gives the asking rents by size and city.