Croatia Travel Blog

As of this month, the government has made it MUCH easier for foreigners, especially EU citizens, to buy property in Croatia. Now foreigners can buy under the same terms as Croatian citizens, which is to say, with much less red tape.

The change was made in response to EU regulations as Croatia is up for ascension next year.  It certainly was not as a result of public clamour for more foreigners owning land.

Contrary to dire fears among Croatians, that their choicest bits of real estate will slip under foreign control, it looks as though the economic crisis means that fewer foreigners than expected will be snapping up property. Consider the prices: 3,650 euros per square metre of a flat in Dubrovnik and  1,750 euros for the same  in Pula! Croatian real estate professionals had expected that loosening regulations would lead to a whopping 5% increase in sales but now even that estimate is being revised downward.

As it turns out, Germans are the biggest foreign owners of Croatian property. Figures show that as of January, only 11,517 foreign citizens or firms owned property in Croatia. The list was led by 5,149 Germans, and then followed by 3,131 Slovenians, 2,187 Austrians and 1,358 Hungarians.

The figures were several times smaller than what the Croatian media had estimated.

Find out more about buying property in Croatia.

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