FOREIGN BUYERS IN CROATIA
Liberalized Croatian real estate market
Since February 1, 2009, all foreign citizens, citizens of the member states countries, regardless the EU country of origin, can buy real estates in Croatia pursuant to the newly enacted Property law. The new Law significantly shortens the procedure, simplifies and quickens the property title registration. It has been duly harmonized with the Croatian commitments in conformity with the Stabilization and Association Agreement, adopted in 2005.
The new Law, enables the EU member state citizens to buy more real estates of their choice, differently from previous years, when they were allowed to buy only one real estate, a house or al land, with the previous written consent of the Ministry of justice. The other way was to constitute a company in Croatia which would then buy a real estate.
No one can say with certainty how many real estates in Croatia have been bought and are currently the property of foreign citizens.
We speculate that in the past 12 years, some 70 000 houses and lands have been bought by non-Croatian citizens. A part of it was bought directly, another part by companies, and yet the third way was: the foreign citizen stipulated the contract with the seller; the seller remained the registered property owner, whereas the buyer could be a life long user, with the warranty that his heirs would, eventually, inherit the property.
The actual number of real estates, sold to foreign citizens, will probably become public only when, pursuant to the new Law, the proprietors start to register their property titles and ownership rights.
Much bigger interest for the purchase of real estates was noted in the past few years, when officially, 3440 real estates were sold, with the prior consent of the Ministry of justice, whereas the foreign citizens in the same period submitted almost 10 000 purchase requests in Croatia.
Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, the English, and in the past few years also the Russian, particularly interested in buying a land in Dalmatia or one on the islands, are amongst the most frequent buyers, while the Sovenes and the Italians remained faithful to buying an estate in Istria and Kvarner.