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Outside Zagreb, low interest rates and demand for more are pushing buyers into Croatia’s mountainous regions.
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By Sydney Franklin
This three-bedroom holiday home is located in the heart of Croatia’s Gorski Kotar mountainous region, a pocket in the northwest of the country, known as Croatia’s “green lung”, which extends to the Adriatic Sea.
Completed in 2019, the three-story space is located on a sloping 15-acre lot and features the classic wooden structure discovered in Gorski Kotar, known for its carpentry. The number one fabrics are locally sourced lerces and Siberian iron, according to the owner. wants the 2,368-square-foot house to be built with sustainable fabrics through local workers. Even the furniture and shelves were made through local artisans with forged wood. The outer lining is intended to protect the space from harsh Croatian winters.
“My guiding concept is longevity and resistance to excessive weather, because after all it is Gorski Kotar,” said the owner, who asked not to be appointed for reasons of confidentiality. “But I sought it to be as herbal as possible, with as few chemicals as possible, so that it blends with the pristine nature of the region. “
Designed with a minimalist Scandinavian aesthetic, the house features a foam coating and floor-to-ceiling reflective glass windows that open the main living spaces to the mountain prospects. “It’s a Croatian product,” said Mirjana Micetic, a Croatian runner Sotheby’s International Realty, who owns the list.
Entering through the two-car garage on the lower level, the basement includes an entertainment room, sauna, bathroom and wine cellar designed to taste like a Croatian tavern, Micetic said.
A path goes up the driveway in front of a landscaped lawn to the main entrance. On the floor, an iron home separates the kitchen from the living room, which has wall-to-wall windows and a door that opens onto the terrace. , heated pool and spa. The kitchen, also available through glass doors in the look of the house, has a table with capacity for 10 people.
The moment floor, cantilevered over the bridge, includes 3 bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, the largest of which overlooks the forest through a wall of windows. In the courtyard there is a fireplace, barbecue, open dining room and lawn.
The asset is located in the village of Ravna Gora, which is located between the largest cities of Delnice and Vrbovsko. Risnjak National Park is about 30 minutes away; Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular destination, is less than an hour and a half away. Rijeka, a port city about forty-five minutes to the west, is a melting pot of European influences with a developing tourist scene and a foreign airport Zagreb, the Croatian capital, is about an hour to the northeast.
Croatia, one of the few European countries to respond temporarily to coronavirus, ordered a complete quarantine in mid-March that managed to reduce the spread of the virus. The blockade was lifted in May and in June an avalanche of tourists and buyers arrived in the country, prompting a momentary wave of infections that continued until the autumn. As of October 13, Croatia had reported 20,993 cases of Covid-19 and 330 deaths, according to the New York Times coronavirus map.
All this before, the country’s genuine real estate sector, which had experienced several years of stable expansion, was controlled to stay upright. “The market is never dead,” Micetic said. I have a feeling he’s gone back two 3 months. “He claimed that he had organized virtual tours with potential buyers during the closing, while those who had plans to come in the spring postponed their July, August and September dates.
Elena Nevskaya, senior representative of Adrionika Consultancy and Coordination, said that maximum tourism generated asset programs along Croatia’s Adriatic coast. There were twice as many foreign programs in May and June compared to the same time in 2019, according to Adrionika. Many referred to independent villas with swimming pools on the Istrian peninsula for around 300,000 to 350,000 euros ($355,000 to $415,000) and beachfront villas in Dalmatia for approximately 1. 5 million to 2 million euros (1. 8 million to $2. 4 million). kuna, although many transactions are made in euros).
Ms Nevskaya said the onset of the pandemic, as well as the effects of the earthquake that struck Zagreb on 22 March, caused a fall in the country’s costs, which helped through low interest rates on home loans, now around 2. 5%.
But the most recent quarterly report by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics revealed that space costs had increased by 8% by the last quarter of 2019, adding a 9% increase in Zagreb. The earthquake, which destroyed many houses in the city centre, reduced stocks and devied the attention of some potential buyers.
“We have seen an increase in the number of others to build houses and land compared to apartments,” said Boro Vujovic, director of Zagreb-based Operetta and vice president of the Association of Real Estate Brokerage Companies of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. “The coronavirus and earthquake made others feel larger on the ground, with a piece of their own land. “
At the luxury market, Micetic said Sotheby’s had noticed a slight drop in foreign interest in the past seven months because other people may simply not stop at homes in the spring, but there is a niche clientele that never runs out. In September of this year, the company indexed 69 homes and 11 homes sold, compared to 61 indexed homes and 8 sales at the same time in 2019.
Rural Gorski Kotar, like other less densely populated areas of Croatia, attracts massive teams of interest from foreigners, but interest is slowly increasing, according to runners.
Vujovic said the pandemic had boosted the activity of holiday homes and farmland in the area, and visitors had air and water in white, as well as its proximity to Zagreb and the coast. “After the pandemic,” he said, “the price of isolation, nature and peace has risen dramatically. “
According to a Sotheby’s report, foreign buyers account for about 15% of real estate transactions in general years, with Slovenians being the most sensitive on the list, given the non-unusual border with Croatia.
Micetic said this year that he had noticed requests from Austrians, Slovenians and Germans. The same goes for Peter Ellis, Croatia’s director of Real Estate Services, who has noticed greater attention from Germans on the Istrian peninsula, where for a moment they can search for houses across the sea.
Today, first-time buyers tend to come from Croatia, Elis said, especially from Western Europe, and to be informed about the houses of the moment or the investment properties.
Croatia, which joined the European Union in 2013, provides European citizens with fewer difficulties for their assets through a reciprocity law that allows Europeans to buy unrestricted assets as long as Croatians have the same right in the buyer’s country of residence.
More than part of the US states have been able to do so. But it’s not the first time They also have reciprocity with Croatia, adding New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and California.
Non-European citizens must download the approval of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia to acquire an asset. From there, the client must locate a Croatian lawyer, usually intern in the brokerage, to make the closure. Once the offer is accepted, clients will pay about 7% of the house’s total charge on taxes and fees, which come with what is owed to the broker and legal advisor, as well as the asset movement tax.
Croatian tourism: croatia. hr
Visit Ravna Gora: tz-ravnagora. hr
Visit Gorski Kotar: gorskikotar. hr
Croatian; kuna (1 kuna – $0. 16 USD)
There is no annual asset tax in Croatia if the space is used as the main residence, Micetic said.
Mirjana Micetic, Croatia Sotheby’s International Realty, 011-385-21-586-957; sothebysrealty. hr
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