More than 50,000 apartments are empty in Zagreb

In order to provide citizens with affordable housing, it is primarily necessary to increase the offer of residential real estate on the market, it was pointed out on Friday at the Eurotransformation conference: "The first year of the euro - The rise of the real estate market", where it was also heard that in cities 10 to 15 percent the apartment is empty.

The conference was organized by the portal Dnevno.hr and the company Motus Mediam, and as State Secretary in the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and State Property Željko Uhlir pointed out, the "skeleton" of the national housing policy plan until 2030 should be ready by the end of this year or the beginning of the next years.

Without a quality housing policy, he emphasized, it is not possible to provide citizens with affordable housing, for which it is primarily necessary to increase the offer on the market.

"When the state gets involved through housing policy, it must help to increase the supply," he said.

Uhlir supported the allegations about the lack of apartments with data according to which in the 80s of the last century, on average, around 24,000 apartments were built in Croatia per year, and now the maximum amount is around 15,000 per year.

About 54,000 apartments are vacant in Zagreb

He also said that in 2021, 2.35 million housing units will be listed in Croatia, about one hundred thousand more than in 2011, and according to preliminary data, 10 to 15 percent of the housing stock is empty in cities.

For example, in Zagreb, out of 372.4 thousand housing units, 54.1 thousand are empty, and in Split, out of 81.9 thousand, 8.6 thousand are empty. The data was obtained from HEP, given that in no electricity consumption. "These are all variables that a housing policy must take into account," Uhlir pointed out, adding that these apartments are of no use, and some of them were bought as a form of investment.

Also in the context of the housing strategy that is being prepared, Uhlir said that the current position is that there will be no subsidization of housing loans in the form in which it has existed so far. "But that's the attitude for now. Whether it will change is another question," he added.

The president of the Real Estate Association of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and the director of the Kastel nekretnine agency Dubravko Ranilović believes that the issue of affordable housing can be solved with a high-quality and smart tax policy. He is against the introduction of a general tax on real estate, but he believes that empty real estate should be taxed, because that is the only way to activate it.

A large disparity in the taxation of long-term and tourist rentals

Ranilović also warned about the large disparity between the tax on long-term rental of apartments and the short-term one, which usually refers to tourism, which is among the lowest in Europe. Thus, not only local people invest in tourist rentals, but also foreigners build apartment buildings, and people in larger cities on the Adriatic, such as Dubrovnik and Split, practically have nowhere to live.

Ranilović believes that such a situation is unsustainable, also because of the pressure on the infrastructure of cities and urban consequences. He also said that real estate prices in Croatia continue to rise, especially new buildings, but at significantly lower rates than in previous years.

At the same time, in the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year, there was also a decrease in real estate transactions, as well as a decrease in transactions involving foreign citizens, with the latter by an average of 13 percent. So, the market is still slowing down, and Ranilović hopes that in the foreseeable future, a certain price correction can be expected, that is, their lowering.

Unrealistic requests from sellers regarding the price of real estate are common

He also said that the difference between the requested and realized price of residential real estate is increasing, on average in Croatia it is around 15 percent, which indicates rather unrealistic demands of the seller. However, when the owner of the property cannot get what he expects on the market, it takes about six months for him to realize that if he wants to sell the property, he must lower the price, noted Ranilović.

He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the work of some real estate agencies, some of which, instead of bringing the requested prices within realistic limits, even encourage sellers to raise them.

The owner and director of the real estate agency Imperium Immobiliare, Filip Brkan, presented an analysis of the real estate market in Zagreb regarding the difference between the requested and realized prices by city district.

The analysis refers to used apartments, based on ads on Njuškal and the eNekretnine information system, and it showed that this difference is the largest in Trešnjevac, 31 percent, in Maksimir and Dubrava, for example, at 27 percent, while the "most balanced" neighborhood is Podsused - Vrapče, with a difference of seven percent, reports poslovni.hr.

Tržište nekretnine, 13. Nov. 2023.