Cities collect more money from property tax

Cities and towns in Albania are collecting more money from property tax than last year.

Finance Ministry data show they collected almost 4.7bn lek by the end of May.

That was up from about 3.9bn lek in the same period last year.

The figure means local authorities had already collected 46% of the property tax money planned for the whole year.

Tirana brings in almost half of the total because it has the largest number of people and homes.

Elbasan, Vlora, Fier and Durrës follow.

Local government experts say more money could be collected once councils have better online records of buildings in their areas.

From 2029, property tax bills are expected to rise because the tax will be based on the real value of a home or land, not fixed reference prices.