sksk
Junior Member
Posts: 12
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Post by sksk on Sept 2, 2008 17:25:57 GMT 1
Seems odd the limited discussion of the greater economic decline spreading across Europe and America. After all, these are the buyers of Croatian property. Sure, the Russians are thriving, but the Germans and the Brits and the North Americans are seeing hard times. Vacation homes in Croatia seem less possible with the credit markets tightening, fuel costs high, inflation rising, and the biggee, to my thinking, the declining equity of properties in the buyers home country. If your London home just lost 10%, it's that much harder to finance old stone houses in Dalmatia.
Croatian property cannot be immune to this larger economic downturn.
How this doesn't translate into property price declines is beyond me. Still, I'm not seeing slashed prices. Maybe others closer to the ground do. But declines, perhaps considerable declines, seem inevitable. And all the more painful for those Croats with dreams of windfall profits on the old family home.
I also expect a wave of selling by recent buyers caught up in the souring economic malaise. In particular, Brits now selling properties bought just five years previous.
Coming or current property declines should be THE big issue this forum should be addressing. And it has been, just not front and center.
Then again, perhaps the decline in posting of interested property buyers on this site proves my point.
I'd love to hear a broader discussion about price declines, trends of buyers by nationality, and the overall inventory of homes for sale versus homes sold in the different regions. I'm a Dalmatian island guy, so I'd love to here more, in particular, about this region.
If nothing else, this discussion might enliven this rather sleepy board.
SKSK
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Post by mambo on Sept 2, 2008 18:10:45 GMT 1
SkSk,
I think we have spoken about this issue many times and reasons why prices are not coming down that much have been addressed as well.
As many have pointed out.............Croatians are kind of stubborn: they think the value of their house is such and such and the result is that they will never drop the price, even if it would mean holding on to the house for another 25 years.
The only prices you may see drop are the houses which are solely built for development (read: making a quick buck). If the houses are financed via mortgages which need to be paid back after 2 years (after finalizing construction), the owners will have to lower the prices or otherwise they will run into problems with the bank.
The following may sound astonishing, but many Croatians really have no clue what goes on in the rest of the world. They are not interested, they don't care and to them it is all not true.
They may hear about 'crisis' in the rest of the world, but to actually make the connection to the effects for selling their house................they are unable, it is beyond what they can comprehend. To them most of the foreigners are zillionaires and the only thing that is important is that they hand over their money to the locals.
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sksk
Junior Member
Posts: 12
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Post by sksk on Sept 2, 2008 20:01:01 GMT 1
The talk here is all about the supply. The stubborn Croatian property holder. I'm more interested in the demand. Who's buying now? What are their expectations? Do they demand discounts to price?
Markets work contra the fundamentals for only so long. Croatians can tune out the macro issues in the world economy, but the potential buyers of their properties will not.
With time, these sellers won't solely be Croats but also Germans, Brits, Yanks, Austrians, Italians, Slovenians, etc. now looking to exit their properties.
Given the larger economic factors, change will happen.
SK
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Post by balkanbabe on Sept 3, 2008 4:28:56 GMT 1
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Post by ray51 on Sept 3, 2008 8:02:19 GMT 1
Can't find that particular one , BUT : any U.K. paper ( Daily Fail included ) is detailing the latest miseries of holiday-home ownership , especially with more and more budget flights getting cancelled , low-cost airlines failing , the sterling nose-diving towards EUro-levels - Thanxxxx v.v. much , Darling ! ...and the expected loss of 20000 jobs in the City ;
pity , that I'm not interested in a property by the Adriatic myself
( although I also see that any number of old , damaged stone houses are offered in Sicily , for 1 Euro apiece , if the prospective owners undertake to restore them...)
And , this side of the burgeoning EUrocracy , one gets to hear many a tale of woe and despair , the Dutch , Belgoes and Germans struggling to get rid of their Spanish and Portuguese properties ; Croatia must be a pretty unique case , then ?
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Post by polako on Sept 3, 2008 8:21:52 GMT 1
Hi Balkanbabe- just read the article- brill. I had to copy and paste the web address to read it- but now the full address has gone from your post. Click twice on the internet icon 3rd icon from the left bottom row when you do a "quote" post/modify post, and then paste the link in between the x if it's a long link.
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furio
Junior Member
Posts: 25 
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Post by furio on Sept 3, 2008 12:10:22 GMT 1
I would expect property demand by foreigners will be down quite a bit. It is easy to look at UK, US and Irish property markets taking a big hit. Spain a secondary market for holiday homes is falling now a swell. As for Croatia it will obviously come down to except that many Croatians own their homes outright, no mortgage. They can wait as long as they want. Unless they need cash quickly of course.
I really don't see Croatian sellers as being any different than the ones in the UK or US for example. All property sellers around the world are greedy and opportunistic. Simple as that. I think the property declines in the US and UK are quite indicative of this.
My advise to would be buyers looking for something reasonable is to be patient. Find a property that has been listed for a while and contact the agent about it. And then wait. If the seller gets desperate they will start dropping their price quickly and the agent will beg you to come to Croatia to check it out. Also be on the lookout for foreigners looking to sell. They will be very desperate soon especially if they bought the place with a second mortgage on their primary property.
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Post by capio on Sept 3, 2008 13:49:49 GMT 1
Claims of being a Balkans 'babe' are useless without photos.
I'm sure all the male posters agree!
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Post by mambo on Sept 3, 2008 14:45:45 GMT 1
Capio,
Completely agree with you. It is a bold claim and could possibly be true, but we like to have the confirmation (verifiable of course).
Not that we are male chauvenistic pigs, but if a woman is proud enough to make this claim she should not object to the 'verification process'.
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Post by Nick on Sept 3, 2008 14:57:32 GMT 1
 Balkanbabe, is this you? |
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Post by Anna on Sept 3, 2008 16:21:10 GMT 1
Sorry, but please stick to the topic...
Thanks.
(You can always create another post elsewhere if you want.)
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Post by ray51 on Sept 3, 2008 17:32:18 GMT 1
Was it her ?
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Post by polako on Sept 3, 2008 17:34:52 GMT 1
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Post by fjaka on Sept 3, 2008 21:44:13 GMT 1
Balkanbabe, is this you? Could be Zagreb in the background  |
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Post by balkanbabe on Sept 4, 2008 5:47:49 GMT 1
Actually, picture does look like me ....................... about 20 years ago.
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;D), I am going to act like the mature adult and get this thread back on track 
(Ignore them)