The country is located in the very center of Europe, which is a significant advantage in the eyes of Western European tourists and home buyers who come here not only in summer, but also in winter.
According to Ekaterina Kolotilina, head of the Moscow representative office of Punat Project, more and more Germans, Italians and Czechs are buying real estate in Croatia, and many Slovenes and Italians are in the habit of spending weekends at local resorts.
"The purest Adriatic Sea is visible to a depth of up to 50 m – this can be found only in the Caribbean, but not in the Mediterranean. The climate here is very comfortable for Russians – the temperature does not rise above +35 °C, whereas on the Costa Blanca, in Turkey, Cyprus and Greece, our citizens are languishing from the heat," adds Elena Nevskaya, Customer Service Manager at Adrionika.
Slavic country
Croatia would like to join the EU in 2012. Until recently, the stumbling block was a territorial dispute with Slovenia, which for several years blocked the negotiation process. In 2009, the Prime Ministers of the two states finally came to an agreement that the dispute over the maritime border would be resolved through the mediation of the EU.
Croatia's entry into the European Community will certainly raise prices on the local real estate market and, possibly, complicate the entry of Russian citizens into the country. Now Russians can enter Croatia for 90 days every six months on the basis of a written invitation or a tourist voucher, and in high season (from April 1 to October 30), only a passport is required for this.
"For Russians, an additional advantage of buying real estate in Croatia is that it is a Slavic country where they understand Russian fluently," says Elena Nevskaya. – Russian tourists themselves, having lived in Croatia for a week, begin to communicate in Croatian." Pensioners, for whom it is not easy to learn a foreign language, also often choose Croatia.
According to Elena Nevskaya, Croatia is a much more "European" country than neighboring Montenegro. This is very noticeable, for example, by the condition of roads and the quality of infrastructure. Why do Russians choose Montenegro more often than Croatia? The fact is that foreign individuals have the right to take ownership of real estate only after receiving permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and this sometimes takes one and a half to two years. Therefore, most buyers from Russia are forced to register a company for which the transaction is concluded, and this means additional costs and responsibility.
Croatia and the crisis
According to the Internet portal Global Property Guide, real estate in Croatia in 2009 fell in price by 5%. The Croatian website Centar Necretnina recorded an 8.57% decrease in the prices of apartments on the Adriatic coast from February 2009 to February 2010, while the prices of houses in the same area increased by 2.8% over the same period.
Today, according to Elena Nevskaya, the Croatian resort real estate market is in a state of expectation: "Investors have given way to end consumers. Mostly in Croatia, those who have been here, who love this country, who have relatives here buy real estate."
Speaking about how the resort housing segment reacted to the global crisis, experts agree on the main thing: the market was not overheated, so there was no collapse. "The Croatian market was not oversaturated with cheap and low–quality supply," says Ekaterina Kolotilina. – The average cost of real estate has not actually fallen, except for individual cases, although all prices presented on the market, especially when it comes to commercial real estate or investment projects, can now be discussed."
Tatiana Barteva, head of the business direction of At Home, confirms that the correction primarily affected overvalued properties, and housing worth 1000-1500 euros per 1 sq. m is sold for about the same money as before. The crisis, according to Tatiana Barteva, affected the area of the apartments – for example, some developers began to reduce the area of apartments under construction from 60-70 to 36-40 sq. m, as a result, you can now buy a studio for 80,000 - 90,000 euros (there is such an offer in Sibenik, on the second line).
More resorts, good and different
"In Croatia, everyone will be able to find a place to their liking, just as real estate prices vary," says Ekaterina Kolotilina. The most expensive areas are considered to be Dubrovnik in the very south of the country and Opatija in the north.
Prices are lower at numerous resorts in Dalmatia. Elena Nevskaya is sure: "Today is a good time to buy a house in Dalmatia: you can buy a house for 150,000–200,000 euros - we did not hear about such prices before the crisis. The apartments will cost 80,000-150,000 euros." On the Makarskaya Riviera, according to the expert, apartments from 97,000 euros are offered in a club hotel complex with full infrastructure – shops, restaurants, bars, fitness center, swimming pools - on the first line, next to a beautiful pebble beach.
Land is still expensive, especially on the first line. In general, good plots are sold for 150-200 and 250-300 euros per 1 sq. m. But it is still easier to buy a ready-made house than to wait two years for a construction permit.
The northern Istrian Peninsula and the shores of Kvarner Bay are the most popular areas of Croatia among European tourists.
"If we talk about Istria, located in close proximity to Slovenia and Italy," says Ekaterina Kolotilina, "then we are talking not only about tourist flows in the traditional "vacation" sense, but also about the fact that Slovenes and Italians come to Istria just for every weekend, primarily to the closest to the border with The Slovenian city of Istria is Umag." Other famous resorts of Istria are Porec, Rovinj, Rabac. A lot of luxury complexes are being built in Istria, so the prices here are above average. In Umag, the cost of apartments in a club complex on the first line from the sea starts from 3,500 euros per 1 sq. m
. The center of the Kvarner Riviera, the city of Opatija, is one of the most fashionable tourist centers in Croatia, and once the main resort of the Austro–Hungarian Empire. Opatija is distinguished by its luxurious architecture and infrastructure (exquisite villas, palaces, casinos, many entertainment centers). "Prices have always been high in Opatija, and they have not decreased much. A typical Croat would rather wait three or four years than lower the price," says Elena Nevskaya. At the same time, the offer in Opatija is very limited.
From the point of view of investments, according to Ekaterina Kolotilina, cities with large yacht parking lots, as well as islands are of particular interest – in particular, one of the largest – the island of Krk, where one of the largest Croatian marinas is located. At the same time, island real estate, adds Tatiana Barteva, is a little cheaper, since not all buyers are ready to get to the islands after a flight, albeit a short one.
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