The communist regime in Albania destroyed the private property almost completely, thus weakening the instrument of inheritance. Nevertheless, currently Albanians are among the largest homeowners in Europe and regional level, as after the 1990s they channeled their savings in building and buying new homes.

In total, 90.2% of households own the house where they live, while 5% live in rent, according to INSTAT. According to the data recently published by Eurostat, the country with the highest percentage of households owning the property where they live is Romania, with 96.8% of households, followed by Croatia with 90.5% and Albania with 90.2%. But a Central Bank of Austria survey found that Albanians have the lowest inheritance of houses in the Region, as we have the highest levels of purchases and construction.

Of the total home ownership, 43.5 percent became owners through purchase and 28 percent through construction, while only 9% inherited them. In the Region the ownership is largely created by inheritance and construction and less by purchase. In Macedonia, for example, 45% of homeowners have inherited them, 26% have bought them and 16.4% have built them themselves. In Bosnia, it turns out that 30 percent of landlords have inherited housing, 48 percent have built it themselves and only 20 percent have bought it.

In Serbia the trends are similar. Homeowners are created 36% by inheritance, 31% by construction and 26, 7% by buying them. In the other Southeast European countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, home ownership was created by purchases at a higher level than the region.

Buying a house in Albania nowadays is often seen as a safe investment instrument. The country does not have an active capital market nor diversified financial instruments to invest savings. Now that interest rates on bank deposits are at historically low levels, investment in housing purchase has increased and this is reflected in active developments in the construction sector. Building permits in the last five years have increased rapidly, builders ‘inventories are declining even though prices are rising from year to year and the population is shrinking.