Real estate prices have never been higher; in the last quarter of 2023 alone, an increase of 10.9 percent was recorded compared to the same period a year earlier. At the same time, rental prices are also rising, so according to the latest data, 550 euros should be set aside for rental costs.

With such figures, it is no wonder that construction is experiencing a boom and that in the last quarter of last year it grew by as much as 8.4 percent. In the last three years alone, 3,200 new construction trades have been opened, yet craftsmen are still waited for months. It is no wonder that craftsmen are increasingly returning to Croatia from Germany.

“Now prices in Croatia and in Western countries are almost equal, which has led to the return of our workers. It has led to trades being opened, their number has increased,” says Antun Trojar, president of the Association of Craftsmen of the City of Zagreb for HRT.

Every third employee is not from Croatia

The number of construction companies is also growing, and there is work for domestic and large foreign companies. Experts estimate that there will continue to be work. “We can say that this is a secure ten years of activity and good business in Croatia, and all the more we can say that the development of construction will be at the very least at this level, if not even greater,” explains Mirjana Čagalj, vice president of the Croatian Chamber of Economy for construction and transport.

There are no workers, so there are more and more of those coming from abroad. It is estimated that every third employee in this sector is not from Croatia.

“Construction as a whole has somewhere between 130 and 150 thousand employees. GDP is between 6 and 6.5% of social product in Croatia; it should be at the level of 8 to 10%, and then we would be among the developed countries in Europe,” says Miroslav Habijanec, president of the Management Board of the company “Radnik”, Križevci, and president of the Croatian Employers' Association - Employers' Association in Construction.

Investment momentum

Real estate expert Sanjin Rastovac answers the question of whether the investment momentum will continue by saying that, according to what he sees on the ground, it definitely will not stop. “Is some stagnation in the form of demand happening – yes, but in the form of construction I think we are continuing at the same pace because there is a chronic shortage of good real estate, good new construction,” said Rastovac, adding that a drop in prices is not being felt, although a certain drop in demand is being felt.

“There is still a chronic shortage of good new construction in good locations, small apartments, two-room apartments. Demand is only growing, and supply still does not keep up. There is a shortage of labor, and as long as that is the case, we will not be able to meet that demand with supply,” he adds.

Speaking about rental prices, he said that he does not expect a decline, only growth, because more and more foreigners see us as a great place to live.

“We are an exceptionally safe country, Zagreb is becoming a European metropolis in the true sense, and a great many foreigners are coming to live here because those rents that are expensive for us are still drastically lower than in Dublin or some other European city, and they can easily finance that with salaries of two to three thousand euros because they work from home for some foreign company, while our people will find themselves in trouble if there is no new way of assistance from the state, the local community,” Rastovac concluded.

Source: dnevno.hr