Croats Need to Work 16 and a Half Years to Buy Average Apartment

Although real estate prices have dropped around 30% since 2008, the average Croat would have to work 16 and a half years to purchase an average 60m2 apartment in the capital Zagreb, twice as much as the average German would to do the same in Berlin, writes daily Vecernji list...

With the average monthly wage just 705 euros in Croatia, the average Croat would have to save 195 monthly pay cheques (16 and a half years) to afford a 60m2 apartment in Zagreb outright, whilst a German in Berlin, where the average price of an apartment is 3,200 euros a square metre (920 euros more than in Zagreb) and average wage 1,800 euros, would have to work half as much to buy a place.

It is not just the Germans that the Croats have to work a lot harder than for that roof over their heads. Comparing average salaries and apartment prices in six countries – Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany and Serbia – Croats had to work longer than anybody else except the Serbians.

Whilst the Germans had to save 107 monthly pay packets (8.9 years) for a 60m2 apartment in the capital, the Hungarians had to work 11.3 years for a place in Budapest. The Slovenes were the next best off out of the countries compares – 13 years work for a place in Ljubljana, whilst the Czech’s had to work 15.6 years for a place in Prague. The Serbs, whose average monthly salary is just 415 euros, were easily the worst off, needing to grind away for 22.4 years to afford a pad in Belgrade.