Real Estate Property Investment Series: Focus Croatia 2007

Croatia is one of the most likely candidates for entryhas is that it means the local population has more
into the European Union within the next few yearsaccess to property based finance and the local
and as a result it is also one of the more exciting ofmarket in Croatia also demands property stock...this is
Europe's emerging economies in terms of potentialgood news for an investor. Why? Because tourism
property price growth because with pre-EU entrypotential is good, but having a local market willing and
comes serious foreign direct investment and politicalable to take real estate stock off an investor's hands
and economic stability, and post-EU entry comesin the future is even better news. Targeting this
greater worldwide confidence in a country and aincreasingly affluent nation an investor has a chance
nation's ability to trade more directly and favourablyof generating sustainable and consistent returns from
with the rest of the European Union.a commitment to Croatia for the medium term at
When you add to this positive news the fact thatleast.
Croatia has 5,835 kilometres of coastline (1,777 kmAnother reason why property in Croatia will be big
on the mainland with 4,058 km wrapped around itsbusiness in 2007 and beyond is because of an
numerous pretty islands) and a Mediterranean climateincrease in the number of international businesses
you have immeasurable tourism potential that as yetchoosing locations such as Dubrovnik and Zagreb in
is being massively under-explored meaning that thereCroatia as centres for near-shoring back office
is an entire marketplace for property investors tooperations for example. Croatians are hard working,
explore immediately.intelligent people who will currently work for lower
From 2007 a number of UK and mainland Europerates of pay that their counterparts in the EU-15 for
based cheap flight operators are opening routesexample and some companies are establishing
across Croatia which will create accessibility and bringoperations in Croatia to tap into this labour force and
more tourists and therefore it is highly likely that thisare demanding commercial premises as well as
will increase the profile of the nation and result in apushing up local demand for residential stock.
flourishing holiday and second home market as soonLevels of foreign direct investment as well as the
as the wider world realises just how stunning Croatianumber of international companies setting up regional
is. In the meantime it means there will be a demandhubs in Croatia also represents a positive factor for
for short term accommodation as well as tourisminvestors to bear in mind. FDI and more jobs means
facing faculties and amenities offering an investora growing economy which often results in a more
diversity.affluent nation who can and will afford rising real
The World Travel and Tourism Council have placedestate prices and rental rates as well...Croatia has
Croatia in the top five of all nations in terms ofalready attracted leading international companies such
annualized real growth figures for travel and tourismas GlaxoSmithKline, IBM and Siemens, L'Oreal and
demand from 2007 to 2016; Croatia is expected toNestle to establish regional bases there and what's
achieve tourism demand growth of 7.6% a year forpossibly even more interesting is the fact that
the next nine years meaning that here is a marketCroatia is becoming a centre for UK and EU domiciled
ripe for property investor exploration in 2007.overseas commuters.
One thing that may hold some back from committingThe whole business environment is changing as the
to Croatia is the fact that unlike in some othereconomy grows, there is active interest for
emerging markets in Europe such as Romania forcommercial property from Grade A office space in
example, property prices in the most popular,Dubrovnik to logistics and warehousing space in
populated and beautiful towns and cities in CroatiaZagreb, and in the main economic hubs there is
are already fairly high...but mortgages are widelyintense interest for decent property for sale and rent
available in Croatia for residents and non-residentsfrom an increasingly affluent local and expatriate
and just a little distance away from the main centresprofessional class...could an investor want or expect
of interest there are bargains galore. Anotherany more opportunity from a single nation?
advantage that the ease of availability of mortgages