The average price of new apartments in the first half of 2022 in Croatia was 16,058 kuna (€2,138) per square meter, or 20 percent up from the same period in 2021, state news aagency Hina said on Wednesday citing publicly available data released by the state statistics bureau.

This data only includes newly-built housing units. In Zagreb, which is the largest housing market in the country, the average price was 18,492 kuna (€2,462), or 30.9 percent up year-on-year, whereas in the rest of the country the average price was 13,155 kuna (€1,752) or 6.5 percent up.

This also means that the average prices in capital Zagreb are now 40 percent higher than in the rest of the country. Neither Hina nor the statistics bureau offered any explanation for the increase.

Analysts say that among the factors contributing  to rising prices are government subsidies which traditionally help inflate prices.

The average price of new apartments which were not included in the subsidized housing construction scheme (POS) was reportedly 16,410 kuna (€2,185) per square meter, or 21.1 percent up year-on-year nationally. The average price of subsidized flats was 9,707 kuna (€1,292), or 29.4 percent up.

In the first six months of 2022 exactly 1,869 new apartments were sold in Croatia, including 989 in Zagreb and 880 elsewhere, meaning that in terms of units Zagreb accounts for 53 percent of the entire market.

Neither Hina nor state statistics bureau said whether this was an increase or a decrease compared to the year before.

(€1 = 7.51 kuna)