Whats property demand like?

[rijekafan]

Im trying to get a sense of the Cro coastal property market at the moment. From what I gather from you guys, sale volumes have virtualy collapsed but headline prices have not as vendors are holding on rather than selling at reduced prices. That brings me to the question of demand. How is demand holding up in prime parts of Dalmatia and Istria? In Rijeka the demand is still there but in the sub 100 000 category. Prices are clearly trending down as buyers slowly crack and lower their prices

[darcy]

Let's wait until The Elections, the mud will clear and new fresh ideas will pop up. That will have efect on the markets. As Nixon said "America can fix everything with just one fresh new election."

[zagzag]

I've been looking on the coastline now for around 9 months. Personally, I've noticed many of the same properties are listed from when I first started looking, and 95 per cent of them at the same price as they were 9 months ago. We will head out again next month to the coastline and we'll see the prices then.

[mambo]

The market is almost dead if you ask me. All over Istria I hear the same story.......tourists are not buying anything anymore, but the locals refuse to drop the prices.
In other words, the market has come to an almost complete stop. I suspect we will see some russians and other rich, former east block members, buy some property, but most of the projects will remain un-sold for years to come.

[gramand]

The property demand in Croatia is pretty much as depressed as anywhere else in Europe or even the world currently but as elsewhere that does not mean prices are down, as ever in difficult times the need to sell is the only market motivator.

My brief experience and a few tips I gained along the way are listed below, they may or may not help.

I first visited Croatia in 2004 and started looking for property in 2005.

It took 6 trips and not till 2007 did I find
a) What I wanted
b) What I could afford
c) A vendor willing to seriously negotiate
d) A property with clean (almost) papers and fairly simple legal process.

I wanted to be in the village of Starigrad Paklenica a Croatian community with good facilities and proximity to the 3 National Parks of Paklenica (50 yards), Krka and Plitvice (both 60 miles).

There were about 100 properties for sale in 2005 in Starigrad out of 700 or so.

At times I got the impression though that all 700 were available if you cared to knock on the door and ask.

Now I would say there are still 80 of the original 100 available and at more or less the same prices as 3 years ago. Topped up by 20 or so new entries.

Land has increased in price and construction costs too so the value of existing property has effectively gone down.

The secrets of buying seem to me
1) Look for properties where the vendor needs to sell, illness, old age, divorce etc. (cruel I know but true).
2) Get a Croatian National (I know several very reliable ones now) to undertake the serious negotiation for you.
3) Be prepared to be flexible on which property you want. The village gossip will work for you, never let on which one you really want, always have at least two in mind and keep the vendors guessing which one you will pick until the very, very, last minute.

If you are buying in a big holiday resort then most of the above probably will not help.

Always remember you are an outsider, millionaire, and a bit of an eccentric as far as the locals are concerned, always smile, always speak to everyone in the street even if your greeting is not returned, it will be eventually.

Most of all enjoy the process, it will not be easy and there will be disappointments, and you will make mistakes. A limited Company is a good start whatever you want to do but make sure that whoever does the formation also gets you a Business Permit to go with it.

Hope some of the above helps................looking forward to being shot down by the cynics............. overall Croatia is a good country to be in and the people are friendly and good fun. If there was a Visit UK forum then the negative posts on this site would pale into insignificance by comparison with the tragedy that the UK is fast becoming.

If people think Croatia has corruption at government level they should spend some time in the UK and watch a pathetically weak Government. We are propping up things like Northern Rock to the tune of a month's spending on the National Health Service, simply to cover their own complicity in the financial mismanagement they encouraged in the first place. The current PM is solely responsible for the collapse of the UK pension industry, after 10 years of his chancellorship there are now apparently no final salary schemes open to new recruits in "industry" in the UK. I could start 20 posts in similar vein.

[Madgolfer]

Not an easy question to answer and our experiences are not related to "coastal" property, but in response the original question....."Whats property demand like?"

Firstly you would need to break it down into demand based on the geographical location of buyers.

Inquiries from potential buyers compared to 2006/7

USA - Very few and far between, down 90%.
UK - Very different to 2006/7, see details below.
Germany - Constant.
Belgium - Constant
Holland - Up 20%
France - Non existent (Unlike their wine they do not appear to travel well) lol ;D,
Spain - Up 50% (Mainly from Ex pats)
Eastern Europe - Up 60%
Middle East - Non existent
Far East - Up 30%

In 2008 demand for "holiday homes" in this region from UK buyers has almost halved, while inquiries for "permanent" homes has increased almost two fold.

The vast majority of inquiries from the rest of Europe, are still from clients looking for a holiday home.

Overall, the market appears to be very variable and constantly changing every few months.

These figures are based on our business experiences near Zagreb and are not perhaps relevant to the coastal regions, so make what you will of them.