|
Post by Madgolfer on Mar 3, 2012 9:45:40 GMT 1
From the Croatian Times
Real estate prices continue falling in Croatia
Real estate prices continued a downward trend in Croatia according to data released by real estate portal Crozilla.com. Prices dropped 0.7 per cent in February from the previous month and by 1.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, reported poslovni.hr.
During February, apartment prices were 5.7 per cent cheaper than in the same period in 2010 and 14.8 per cent cheaper than in 2008. Despite the drop, a lot of big cities recorded price rises. The cities where the average apartment price rose in the same period last year were: Zadar (+0.5 per cent), Split (+0.3 per cent), Osijek (+0.8 per cent) and Dubrovnik (+0.4 per cent). The biggest drop in the year was in the port city of Rijeka, which registered a drop of 8.1 per cent on 2011.
The average price per square metre in Zagreb for February was 1,760 Euros, 0.5 per cent higher than in January, whilst in the Dalmatian city of Split, 2,125 Euro was the average price per square metre, 0.6 per cent more than in January. However, the greatest fluctuation was in the popular Adriatic city of Dubrovnik where the average price per square metre dropped by 4.2 per cent to 3,122 Euros.
No mention of the cost of acquiring building permits etc (€5k + upwards) I wonder if sellers even know about it yet?
|
|
|
Post by Kaskader on May 29, 2012 18:39:56 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by Madgolfer on May 31, 2012 11:20:30 GMT 1
I also saw/heard on yesterdays CNBC news that up to 30% of all Brits with overseas property are looking to (or are having to) sell up and get out of their investments.
Its obviously not just a HR problem but world wide, thats a huge amount of people and I assume its the same for many Germans, French etc.
Very hard times all round!
|
|
|
Post by Kaskader on May 31, 2012 14:17:43 GMT 1
I see it as a good time to re-asses the value of life, health. family and time given, as opposed to being focused on the value of bricks and mortar.
It is all about mechanics of life.
|
|
|
Post by gmh on May 31, 2012 14:30:47 GMT 1
If I had 20000 euro in my pocket I'd buy a wood farm house to renovate over the next 2 years and wait for a rise in value. Nothing to say there will be a rise though.
Glad my wifes business and my own seem to be doing better in this financial climate.
|
|
|
Post by Madgolfer on May 31, 2012 18:59:39 GMT 1
I see it as a good time to re-asses the value of life, health. family and time given, as opposed to being focused on the value of bricks and mortar. It is all about mechanics of life.
Nicely put. ;D
|
|
|
Post by Kaskader on Aug 29, 2012 13:03:09 GMT 1
Hi guys, do you find it normal and acceptable for estate agencies in Cro to charge both seller and buyer? I mean a buyer who simply responded to the ads, not a buyer who specifically instructed agency to search for the property. So, the last fee I paid to an agent here for the sale in the UK was 0.75%, never paid more then 1.5%. They never charged buyer of course. Im selling some building land in around Zagreb, agents want 3% from me and will charge 2% prospective buyer who responds to the adds. Emmm...any comment is not needed. Few other clauses in the contract I find silly too. Pretty much all agencies work in similar fashion up to my limited knowledge so far. Interesting stuff... Been living in the UK too long
|
|
|
Post by Madgolfer on Aug 29, 2012 17:27:08 GMT 1
The real estate law restricts agencies to a maximum charge per transaction - per sale of 6%. How many agencies are prepared to charge less than the allowed minimum? We currently charge a fixed fee of 2000 euros plus pdv to the buyer and nothing to the seller. Our fee only increases on properties over €85,000 euros. We used to charge both parties (half each) but suffered from some very late payments and non payment - bad debts on the Croatian side. The buyer always pays in the end anyway.
|
|
|
Post by Madgolfer on Aug 30, 2012 8:52:27 GMT 1
Her is my other post from the thread on amnesty building permits
OK as of the 4th August 2012 you can now sell your property without having a building license already in place.
Article 22 of the new law has been suspended awaiting further review.
Sales contracts must include a clause stating whos responsibility it is to obtain the building permit by Dec 31st 2012
Its far from an ideal solution but at least it allows sales contracts to go through again.
Now that sellers are starting to realize how expensive and time consuming obtaining a building permit is prices are rising. Everyone wants to add €5k to €10k onto the sale price to cover the extra costs.
Most of the properties we sell are in the €25k to €75k price range so that is an increase of between almost 10% and 20%
Add to this most sellers misconception that their property "must" also increase by another 10% - 20% in price due to Croatia's pending EU membership
Thanks very much to the HR Gov for this enlightened piece of legislation at a time when prices should be getting lower we are looking at huge increases.
|
|
|
Post by Kaskader on Aug 30, 2012 11:48:47 GMT 1
Well, the properties wont sell. Purchasing power of pretty much whole of the western world is diminishing, perhaps they think Chinese will come here and buy them all at inflated prices, overlooking hundreds of thousands of available cheaper properties in Spain, Greece, even in France, Ireland etc. Let them dream the dream. Who in the right mind actually wants to wake up to the reality?
|
|
|
Post by Kaskader on Aug 30, 2012 14:58:27 GMT 1
The real estate law restricts agencies to a maximum charge per transaction - per sale of 6%. How many agencies are prepared to charge less than the allowed minimum? We currently charge a fixed fee of 2000 euros plus pdv to the buyer and nothing to the seller. Our fee only increases on properties over €85,000 euros. We used to charge both parties (half each) but suffered from some very late payments and non payment - bad debts on the Croatian side. The buyer always pays in the end anyway. The law (which is not really law, just reccomendation from HGK) may say one thing, but what is one to think about practice to charge seller say 3%, and the buyer who simply responds to adds another 2%? Is there any other country where this is practice? Seriously, the sample of the contract I was offered from one of big ZG agencies is ridiculous and I am not on about commission, but how they expect to be paid even if one of the two parties give up on the purchase or sale after it is agreed in principle, and few more things. Once EU regulations inhabit that space, they will be able to wipe their backside with such type of contract they consider "normal practice" at the moment.
|
|
|
Post by Madgolfer on Aug 31, 2012 5:38:02 GMT 1
I understand your frustration and surprise at how the real estate agencies charge their fees here in Croatia and can really only comment on how our business works. We calculate how much our costs are to run each month, quarter, year etc and how many properties we expect to sell during that time. What is our break even point and how much we would like to make in profits before and after tax. Once you have these figures you can calculate what you need to charge per sale to reach your target. If you wish (or need) to make a lot of profit then you charge both parties as much as you are allowed by the law, 3% each. You can then add any additional fees for non real estate related work and services as well. Given the high prices of property in Zagreb and at the coast the profits made by some agencies is very high and only figures we could dream of in our region for doing the same amount of work. Charging 6% fees on a sale worth €500,000 euros is very nice work if you can get it. After all the same amount of work is involved if the property is only worth €50,000 euros. People run their own businesses as they see fit and unfortunately greed is an ugly part of our society today. We try very hard to be a socially aware and responsible company, generating only the profits we need to sustain our business and maintain a reasonable standard of lifestyle here, as well as investing in local projects and charities each year. I know that the true capitalists will groan in disbelief at this business model but not all agencies are the same.
|
|
|
Post by ivetron on Aug 31, 2012 16:27:23 GMT 1
The real estate law restricts agencies to a maximum charge per transaction - per sale of 6%. How many agencies are prepared to charge less than the allowed minimum? We currently charge a fixed fee of 2000 euros plus pdv to the buyer and nothing to the seller. Our fee only increases on properties over €85,000 euros. We used to charge both parties (half each) but suffered from some very late payments and non payment - bad debts on the Croatian side. The buyer always pays in the end anyway. The law (which is not really law, just reccomendation from HGK) may say one thing, but what is one to think about practice to charge seller say 3%, and the buyer who simply responds to adds another 2%? Is there any other country where this is practice? Seriously, the sample of the contract I was offered from one of big ZG agencies is ridiculous and I am not on about commission, but how they expect to be paid even if one of the two parties give up on the purchase or sale after it is agreed in principle, and few more things. Once EU regulations inhabit that space, they will be able to wipe their backside with such type of contract they consider "normal practice" at the moment. Yes, in the US the seller is charged 3% and the buyer is charged 3%. And so for a 500,000 euro home that is a tidy commission. The housing market collapse and financial meltdown has elminated many real estate agents looking to make an easy buck. We are also seeing a number of new "discount agencies" that charge a much lower, flat fee but they do the bare minimum amount of work which can be a headache. One thing to point out and in contrast to Kaskader's note about commissions in Croatia, if the agent in US works on a deal for a year, all the paperwork, financing etc, only to see the whole deal fall apart, he gets paid nothing. Read more: visitcroatia.proboards.com/index.cgi#ixzz258bj2vkw
|
|
|
Post by Madgolfer on Aug 31, 2012 17:47:15 GMT 1
if the agent in US works on a deal for a year, all the paperwork, financing etc, only to see the whole deal fall apart, he gets paid nothing.Its the same here.
|
|
|
Post by Madgolfer on Aug 31, 2012 17:47:31 GMT 1
if the agent in US works on a deal for a year, all the paperwork, financing etc, only to see the whole deal fall apart, he gets paid nothing.Its the same here.
|
|