The real estate market in Croatia has been experiencing a slight stagnation for the past few months, but experts claim that the market is still very active. The demand for apartments in new construction and apartments of around 70 square meters in larger cities or in good locations, which are constantly in short supply on the market, is not decreasing.
We spoke with Martina Naletilić, a licensed real estate agent at the Sky Nekretnine agency, who told Financije.hr that she feels a slight drop in demand among foreign buyers, but believes that this is due to the current economic situation in the countries they come from.
She revealed to us that in the next six months she does not expect significant changes in real estate prices, but a continuation of the stagnation that has already begun, i.e. price fixing.
Many buyers are not sure what kind of properties are the best to invest in and whether they should invest in them at all. Naletilić advises that it is good to invest in real estate in an attractive location or one that has the potential to become so in the near future.
“If you have a certain amount of money at your disposal, and by financial calculation you come to the conclusion that you will pay off the investment in the optimal period, investing in real estate is absolutely a wise move,” she said, adding that one should look at how attractive a certain location is to a certain group of people (students, tourists , workers…) if you are thinking about renting.
When choosing a property for housing, it is important to take into account personal needs, how close they are to important locations (public transport, health center, green areas), noise level and the layout of the rooms.
As for prices by location, research conducted for 2022 showed that the most expensive prices per square meter are in Rovinj, Opatija, Dubrovnik and Split. But what kind of properties fetch the best prices?
“If we compare the price per square meter, small apartments in good locations fetch dizzying amounts compared to real estate with a larger square footage or compared to real estate in less attractive locations. Luxury real estate, apartments and urban villas are, of course, a separate category,” said Naletilić.
Sky Nekretnin told us that when selling real estate it is important to follow the market and not exaggerate with unrealistic amounts if you want to sell the real estate in the optimal period of time.
Naletilić says that there is a noticeable constant deficit of apartments in new construction, i.e. demand that exceeds supply, which consequently affects the growth of real estate prices in new construction. However, construction costs have not been increasing in the last six months.
Destatis announced in October that the number of permits issued for the construction of apartments in Germany decreased by 28 percent in the first eight months of 2023 and pointed to higher construction costs and worse financing conditions. Naletilić explained to us whether such a situation in Germany could affect Croatia.
“The situation on the international market certainly spills over to the Croatian market to a certain extent. Although we are not immune to changes, we must not ignore certain specificities of the Croatian market, due to which we minimally feel the crisis that occurred in most other EU countries and beyond,” said the real estate agent.
“The entry into the Eurozone and Schengen and the increased interest of foreign buyers in the last year have somewhat protected the Croatian real estate market from the crisis that occurred in other countries and have minimized the negative trends that have appeared on the real estate market in most other countries,” she added.
Author: Financije.hr
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