Unhappy Croatia
House prices are falling in Croatia - and they’ve been falling for six years. It has been a long gloomy road:
In Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, the average asking price of flats fell by 3.7% during the year to end-Q1 2014, to €1,565 per square metres (sq. m.). When adjusted for inflation, the asking price declined by 3.3%.
Smaller house price falls were experienced on the Adriatic Coast, where the average asking price of flats declined by just 0.5% during the year to Q1 2014, to €1,600 per sq. m.
The latest quarter saw the lowest annual decline since October 2011, according to CentarNekretnina. So maybe Croatia is coming to the end of its long period of house-price declines? Maybe Croatia’s accession to European Union on July 1, 2013 will be the beginning of a new era?
Most districts suffered from house price declines, except for Novi Zagreb-Zapad (2.3%) and Trešnjevka jug (1.1%). Novi Zagreb-Istok had the sharpest price drop, declining by 9.7% to €1,260, during the year to March 2014, followed by Trnje (-7.1%), Podsused-Vrapče (-6.9%), Donja Dubrava (-6.4%) and Pešćenica-Žitnjak (-6%).
The upper town of Medveščak has the most expensive apartments, with an average asking price of €2,139 per sq. m. in March 2014. Apartments are also expensive in the Center, with an average price of € 2,003 per sq. m.
