Skopje - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
Large houses and duplex style apartments. Most homes appear to be about 15-25 minute drive from the US Embassy. There was a range of very old and new homes or newly updated. Ours was older. Strange layouts for many. Housing pool was strained as there weren't many available units. We had a 3 BR, 3 Bath for a family of 4, with a storage basement and finished 3rd floor/attic which we used as a playroom for the kids, plus a small garage, which we used mostly for storage- had plenty of space but not all have that much storage space. - Jun 2023
Housing for Embassy support is provided and is lovely. Commute times varies from 15-30 minutes. - Nov 2022
My housing was amazing but I think I was one of the lucky ones- I lived in a nice gated complex with a pool, gorgeous lake, and in a large two-bedroom apartment (the third bedroom had been converted to a laundry room/storage). I couldn't walk anywhere from my place but I did jog to the river path a lot and was literally 10 minutes from downtown. Most of the housing seemed a mixed bag- not the best I've seen but definitely not the worst and plenty of nicer places. Not a lot of closet space. - Aug 2019
Housing is inexpensive and spacious. Much more space than we expected when we decided to move to Europe. We lived very close to work, so it's hard to comment on commute times. We did not own a car. - Jan 2019
Housing is generally nice, and it rarely takes more than 15 minutes to commute anywhere in the city. - Sep 2016
Varied. There are some apartments for those without kids, and houses for those with. They are spread out over town so you may not have embassy neighbors. Probably 15-minute commute form the farthest area. - May 2016
USG housing is mainly houses with a few apartments. - May 2014
"Traffic" in Skopje means that it might take, at most, 20 minutes to get home. Nothing in town is more than 10-15 minutes away, and everyone I know of seems to love their home. - Oct 2013
The housing is nice, the locations and commute times are very reasonable. Taxis are very cheap. - Sep 2013
Nothing is far in Skopje. Commute times are usually 10-15 minutes. For the US Embassy, the housing pool consists mostly of semi-detached or stand-alone houses. - Jun 2013
Nothing is very far away in Skopje. Single homes and apartments. - Mar 2012
Housing is wonderful!Very few complaints. I have been impressed by every home I have visited. There are definitely some power/plumbing issues, particularly in a small village where many expats live, but overall the housing is large, modern and comfortable. - Aug 2009
The homes are lovely, large (3 levels or more), well-maintained and (usually) have great yards. The GSO staff here have earned awards for their professionalism and excellent response time to requests. The commute time to the embassy is no more than 15 minutes from any of the housing neighborhoods. - Mar 2009
Housing is big and nice. Some is more modern than others, but it's all good. Way more space than we need. - Mar 2009
Scattered throughout the city. Some live in a suburb and have very large houses, but all of the housing is very nice. Some housing is walking distance to the embassy. There are some issues with electricity going out occasionally. Everything here was built poorly. For some reason, all of the plumbing is terribly designed. The bathrooms smell very bad. But the houses are large and nice. - Jan 2009
