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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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If you look at the numbers showing the average salary in Serbia and the property prices, you would probably say that there couldn't be anything like a real estate market in this country. A small apartment in the capital of Belgrade costs hundreds of times the average monthly salaries; but the market exists which only proves that official economic statistics in Eastern Europe are one thing and reality is something very different.

After four wars within the borders of the former Yugoslavia (all of them unsuccessful), Serbs officially live on salaries 5 times lower than 10 years ago ($60 and $300 a month, respectively). At the same time the real estate market still maintains more or less the prewar price levels. Without solvent foreign investors on the horizon the sellers in Belgrade still don't accept prices below the mark of $400-$500 per sq.meter (1 sq.meter=10 sq.feet). (Like in many other countries in Eastern Europe in Serbia the prices are unofficially denominated in German Marks (DM) - $1=2DM).

Prices for the smaller condos and houses in Belgrade can reach $1000 per sq.meter and even go up. In the other big cities the prices of the residential properties vary around $400-$500. For most of the 90s in every segment of the real estate market (sales, rents, residential and commercial properties and undeveloped land) Serbia in general followed the trends of neighboring Macedonia and Montenegro. In the last couple of years real estate prices in Serbia even exceeded those in Montenegro where local Serbs began to sell off their properties.

There are two golden rules of financial survival in Serbia - never tell anyone (IRS included) your real income and always put your money in some safe assets - real estate, gold, foreign currencies, etc. As for the first peace of advice everything looks clear. If you want to preserve your money you have to keep it as far as possible from the eyes of the government which now tries desperately to find some cash for another war, probably in Montenegro. In order to keep your assets in safe places, you have to hide your real income. It is like a game - if you are caught, you will lose your money, if you are not, you can use it.

To have real estate, you have to buy it first. Well, that contradicts the advice No. 1 that you should hide your money away from the government eyes. If you go to the market, the government will understand that you HAVE enough money and you will lose the game. What to do? The first option is to pay bribes. You think that if you pay once then you can go to sleep peacefully. This method (to pay bribes) is very inconvenient because the one who pays once may be called to do it again and again. There is luckily a second option - to make a deal at lower price and let's say to buy a house for $100 per sq.meter. However, don't think that the administration won't catch you -- they know what the real price of the house is. There is a more refined way of stealing your money without charging you with hiding income: the local administration simply will expropriate your property paying you the official $100 per sq.meter!

But there is a way to go to the market and feel safe against any government incursion in your private life. This way is simple - you have to become a part of the government structures, to work for the regime's long life; in other words, to maintain the status quo. If you look at the political life in Serbia in 90s from this perspective, it becomes clear how Mr. Milosevic remained in power. In every society there are plenty of people who fear that they can lose something if major social changes occur. In a society like Serbia where everyone must steal or at least hide his income in order to survive, the only way of doing this unpunished is to be covered by a political umbrella.

If you take a brief look at the origins of the easy money in Serbia you will find out that their owners were linked long ago with the Belgrade regime. Usually when you hear about refugees you imagine pictures of poor people living in tents or even worse. Serbia counts several hundreds of thousands of refugees, but many of them are very wealthy. During and after the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, in Belgrade and in other Serb cities shops opened which sold everything you could imagine, stolen form other Yugoslav republics - church plates, gold and silver decorations, icons, pictures, carpets, etc. Even in Sofia (the capital of neighboring Bulgaria) there was a similar shop, owned by immigrated Serbs. The result is that even without solvent foreign investors the real estate market in Serbia can survive and maintain its former levels because it turns to be a refuge for dirty money made during the bloody wars in neighboring Croatia and Bosnia.

We can expect that in a future not too distant from now the real estate market in Serbia could become a primary destination for those who want to hide themselves from the international justice -- not only Serbs but criminals from all over the world. The political regime in Belgrade needs money and will gratefully accept any cash from Latin America drug barons or African diamond mafia as it already did with the money from Serb war lords.

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Serbia.