Mortgages on Property in Croatia
Mortgages are not available to foreigners buying property in Croatia.
Local banks are unwilling to lend to owners whose income is outside the country and who could be difficult to pursue in default.
Similarly, British banks are unwilling to offer loans on Croatian properties. This is because of the complexity of recovering funds in the event of default.
The only way at the present time to purchase property in Croatia is to speak to your bank manager or lender in the UK and secure a loan against your existing property.
Once in Croatia, open a local bank account into which you can deposit any sums necessary for deposits and fees later.
It is advisable to allow 12 or 13 % on top of the property value to include agents fees, lawyers fees and transfer taxes.

Property in Croatia

The Croatian property market has emerged from the civil war that tore it apart in the nineties after the country declared independence from the former Yugoslavia.
It has once again been discovered as a hot property destination as some economist's suggest that it will be a fully-fledged EU member by 2009.
According to the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List, the largest price increase in Croatia was for land prices, which increased by 105% in one year up to the end of 2004.
This figure is the average for the whole of Croatia; prices for prime pieces of land along the coast increased by up to 240% in the last year.
House prices, on average, increased by 24% throughout Croatia; in Zagreb and Dubrovnik by 18%; and along the Adriatic coast by 52%.
Prices of apartments, on average, increased by 11%; in Zagreb by 10%; on the Adriatic coast by 16%.
The fundamental point is that exceptional growth levels are being achieved and there is every likelihood that a certain amount of growth will continue.
Growth levels at present outstrip that of most of Europe and for the foreseeable future the initial investment will be cheaper, providing a return on capital equal to or better than elsewhere.
The level of sophistication of investors is such that the development of Croatia's property market is a real threat to the Spanish and French markets.