Slovenians are the most numerous foreign buyers of real estate in Croatia, says the Jutarnji List daily issue of Sunday, noting that in 2023 the sale of real estate dropped in most Croatian counties.

In 2023 real estate transactions dropped in 12 counties, while nine, mostly in the north and east of the country, saw an increase in relation to 2022, show data on a new Finance Ministry web portal which enables a comparison of EU tax systems and provides a large body of data on taxes at the national level.

When it comes to real estate, the data cover contracts for which the Tax Administration determined the tax base, and they show that 18,307 properties were sold in Zagreb in 2023, 7.2% down from 2022. The decline in Split-Dalmatia County was even bigger, with the number of properties sold having dropped by 10% to 10,497.

The interest in real estate transactions was the highest in Varazdin County, which saw a 52% increase in the number of such contracts to 5,309, followed by Šibenik-Knin County. Increases in real estate transactions were also recorded in Sisak-Moslavina, Bjelovar-Biligora, Koprivnica-Krizevci, Brod-Posavina, and Vukovar-Srijem counties.

Tax Administration data show that most contracts, or one in four, referred to the purchase of office buildings, production facilities or retail premises and premises for hospitality establishments. They were followed by contracts for the purchase of farmland and apartments, each accounting for 20% of all purchases, and by contracts for the purchase of construction land.

Foreign nationals accounted for a significant portion of buyers of real estate in Croatia in the past years, notably in 2022, the last year before the introduction of the euro, but data for 2023 indicate a slight slowdown. This, however, does not refer to Slovenians, who in 2023 bought 3,392 properties in Croatia, around 100 more than in 2022, the most of all foreign buyers.

In 2022 Germans were the most numerous buyers of properties in Croatia, and a large portion of them were likely Croatian expatriates. In 2023 they bought around 3,000 properties, about 20% less than in 2022. Of the other foreigners, real estate in Croatia is bought mostly by Austrians, Czechs and Slovaks.