Croatia set to remove restrictions for EU buyers
4 October 2008
The Croatian government recently announced that it will remove restrictions on the European Union citizens from February 1, 2009. Therefore, EU citizens will have the same rights to purchase property as Croatian nationals, apart from certain rural land, news agencies reported. The Croatian government is also streamlining some of the other processes of buying property in the country to help harmonise domestic legislation with the rest of the EU.
Croatia may be joining the EU as early as next year. Analysts said that, by opening up property to European buyers, the government will enable more people to buy in Croatia. This is likely to push prices up, which have already been increasing at a rate of approximately 10 percent a year. While there are a number of advantages to buying via the current method through a local company, such as the possibility to make a VAT reclaim on the purchase price and the ability to rent the property, this will give people another option, they noted.