February 27, 2022 – Property prices in Dubrovnik have always been extremely expensive, and despite the turbulence felt in all sectors, including the property market, over the past two years, prices in the most south of Croatia remain very high. That said, they are no less sought after…

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the demand for real estate in Dubrovnik, specifically for apartments, currently exceeds the supply. Apartments in new buildings, villas and building plots are also in high demand in the far south of Dalmatia, Nada Burum, vice president of the Intermediaries Professional Group, told local portal Dubrovacki vjesnik.

The census showed that the number of inhabitants is decreasing and the number of housing units is increasing despite this – 11 years ago in Dubrovnik-Neretva County there were 40,668, and last year 72,792 housing units. In the wider Dubrovnik area, there are currently about 20 buildings under construction, and 90% of these apartments have been sold at an early stage of their construction. Burum pointed out that the demand for real estate in Dubrovnik has always been high, but that several key factors over the past six months have influenced the rise in new construction prices.

“The increase in demand was largely due to inflation. Croatian buyers and foreign investors invest their money in real estate in order to preserve or increase the value of money. Another important factor is the rising cost of construction materials and the shortage of labor, leading to increased construction costs.These two key factors, along with others, such as Croatia‘s impending entry into the euro zone, have contributed to a significant rise in prices, so that the average price of a new apartment in Dubrovnik is around 4,500 euros per square meter,” explained Burum.

The average price of old apartments purchased mainly for housing is around 3,500 euros per square meter, with differences depending on the location of said property in Dubrovnik. The most expensive square meter costs around 7,000 euros, up to the outskirts of the historic city center and into the old town itself. Luxuriously furnished Dubrovnik properties that serve commercial purposes such as an investment for rental to tourists can fetch about 40% more than average.

According to Poslovni.hr, data from the Njuskalo platform shows that in Dubrovnik itself, an average of 4,151 euros is needed for a square meter of house, 2,033 euros in Split and 2,620 euros in Rovinj. Over the past two years, asking prices for apartments on the Croatian coast have increased, on average by 2,974 euros per square meter in Split (+ 11.24%), in Zadar 2,398 euros (+ 12.37%) , as much in Rovinj at 3,336 euros (+ 28.21%), and in Dubrovnik, which is the only one of them to register a drop, the highest remains – 3,575 euros (-6.61%). Asking prices for apartments have risen in Rijeka by 22% over the past two years, so now an average of 1,879 euros per square meter is required.

Business premises in Stradun cost tens of thousands of euros per square meter, and that should come as no surprise.

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