The prices of real estate in Croatia in Q3 2019 rose by more than 8 percent year-on-year across the country, the state statistics bureau reported on Friday. Compared to Q3 2018, prices of residential properties in capital Zagreb rose on average by 12.2 percent, while prices of properties along the Adriatic coast rose by less than half as much, 5.2 percent.

In all other areas of the country, the average increase was 3.5 percent.

The bureau also reported that across the country the sale prices of newly-built properties rose by 8.2 percent in O3 2019 compared to the same quarter the year before, increasing slightly more than the prices of pre-existing properties, which went up by 8.0 percent.

According to the figures published by the specialised real estate website Crozilla.com earlier this week, the average asking price of apartments in Zagreb in 2019 was €2,011 per square metre, or more than 9 percent up from 2018.

At the same time, prices of residential houses in Zagreb were significantly lower, rising by 6 percent year-on-year and averaging €1,344 in December 2019.

The most expensive apartment prices were recorded in the southern Adriatic city of Dubrovnik, where the average asking price was more than €3,700 per square metre in 2019, although industry experts say that actual prices that buyers pay after negotiating purchases tend to be 5-10 percent lower.

In terms of advertised apartment prices by city, Dubrovnik was followed by Opatija (€3,120) and Split (€2,946), Zadar (€2,281), Sibenik (€2,159) and Umag (€2,148).

On the other end of the scale, the lowest prices recorded over 2019 were in towns in the country’s eastern and northern areas, especially in areas hit by depopulation, with the cheapest asking prices in Bjelovar (€724), Slavonski Brod (€804), and Osijek (€967).

(€1 = 7.44 kuna)