Zagreb’s Property Investment Potential

Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia which is a nation with an exciting emerging property market booming particularly along its Adriatic Sea coastal region and boosted largely by a growth in tourism numbers in Croatia.  Now Zagreb itself is coming under the international investor spotlight as having an emerging real estate market of its own - this is our report on Zagreb’s property investment potential for international investors.

As the capital city of Croatia one would expect Zagreb to be the centre of economic output for the entire nation and indeed it is, Zagreb is affluent and it has ambitious future plans that will likely attract substantial foreign direct investment to the city thus further reducing unemployment levels and creating a wealthy city based population.

Already Zagreb has unemployment levels which are half the rest of the nation’s and it has a growing middle class population who have increased purchasing power and who expect and seek a very Western style and standard of living.  The future plans for the expansion of the city economically and strategically include the expansion of the international airport by 2011, the development of further transport routes to make Zagreb an even more important transportation hub for central Europe and an improvement of city wide infrastructure from roads links to telecommunications.

Strategically located in an important geographic location and acting as a hub for tourism and commercial transportation from Central and Eastern Europe to the Adriatic Sea, Zagreb has always been an important destination throughout history and as a result the city is rich in historic and cultural interest.  Today many international companies also recognise the strategic importance of Zagreb’s location and also the fact that it is a far more affordable city location in which to establish operations as commercial property premises and labour are far cheaper than in other major metropolises in neighbouring nations and across Europe as a whole. 

As more companies come to Zagreb so the demand for office and light industrial space increases representing potential for international commercial property investment.  Already companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, IBM and Siemens, L’Oreal and Nestle have all established commercial bases in Zagreb and created substantial employment opportunity that has resulted in strong levels of inward migration of professionals and executives into Zagreb all of whom seek a good standard of rental or resale property. 

Currently there is a housing deficit in Zagreb as demand for property is outstripping the supply of quality accommodation and this represents ‘opportunity’ for property investors.

There is the opportunity to purchase many of the older buildings and apartments for renovation then rental to either the city’s large international student base or its growing professional employee base, there is also the opportunity to purchase such renovation property and improve it substantially before reselling it and reaping the capital returns.  There are also a few new developments springing up that can be purchased pre or mid construction and flipped upon completion or rented out upon completion to the city’s growing base of young professionals seeking Western style rental accommodation.

Zagreb also has a growing tourism industry that represents further opportunity for those seeking commercial ventures or indeed looking to rent out well located and facilitated accommodation short term for tourism lets.

As Croatia seeks to align itself politically and economically for EU entry so fiscal and structural reforms are being accelerated and this is only for the good of the nation and makes Zagreb an even more exciting yet stabilizing emerging property market for investors.  Some have even gone so far as to say that Zagreb will become the next Prague or Budapest in terms of interest from investors and tourists and if this becomes reality not only will Zagreb and Croatia property prices rise strongly as they are currently doing, they will skyrocket which means that Zagreb has a property market to watch closely.

Special Reports: Property News for Croatia

Croatia Property Buyer’s Guide
Why Croatia's emerging investment property market is growing in attraction for international real estate buyers.

Croatia Investment Property Buying Process
Property investors interested in Croatia will be pleased to learn that the property purchase process is relatively straightforward

Croatia Property Investment Overview
Croatia is re-emerging as a tourism hotspot and represents an excellent property investment opportunity for overseas real estate investors.