Real Estate Sales Grind To A Halt In Croatia

“The real estate market has fallen that much that you can say that one does not even exist”, that is what Jasminka Biliskov from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate Association, reports local Croatian daily Slobodna Dalmacija.

Last year 32,278 apartments were sold in Croatia, 19% less than the year before, and a massive 35% less than in 2009. Home sales have halved since 2007 when 66,787 apartments were sold.

The attractive location of Croatia’s Dalmatian coast has not been exempt from the real estate crisis. Last year 5,329 houses and apartments were sold in the Dalmatian region, 43% less than in 2009. Only two counties along Croatia’s Adriatic coast experienced growth last year in sales – Dubrovnik and Istria. Sales dropped 43% in Sibenik-Knin county, 24% in Zadar county and 20% in Split-Dalmatia county. The drop is sales has taken its toll on the nation’s real estate agencies. Only one in ten agencies who were operating in 2009 are open today.

“The situation in Croatia is identical to that in Split where there was 150 real estate agencies, and today only 15 are active on the market. Some have closed, some are on hold, but the fact is that one in ten are active on the market, advertising, working and  battling,” said Biliskov.