According to the affordability index, which measures the availability of a square meter of housing by comparing the price per square meter to the average annual income per employee, coastal residents face much greater challenges in purchasing real estate than those in inland areas.
The data shows that the least affordable places to buy apartments and houses are located along the Adriatic coast. In places like Baška Voda, Rovinj, Hvar, and Dubrovnik, the price per square meter exceeds 30% of the average resident's annual income, meaning more than three average salaries are needed to purchase a single square meter of residential space.
Among the top 82 least affordable local government units, all are located along the coast. The city of Zagreb, where housing is relatively more affordable due to higher wages, ranks 86th. In the capital, an average annual income can buy 5.9 square meters of residential space.
On the other hand, the most affordable apartments are found in inland parts of Croatia, including Vukovar, Strahoninec, Đurđevac, and Pakrac. In these cities, residents can buy between 12.1 and 49.2 square meters of residential space with an average annual income, indicating a much more favorable situation in the country's interior.
The analysis also reveals that the highest median apartment prices are in Bale, where the price exceeds 4,000 euros per square meter. Other high-price locations include destinations like Punat, Omišalj, and Malinska. In popular tourist cities such as Opatija, Dubrovnik, Split, and Hvar, real estate prices are also extremely high, exceeding 2,500 euros per square meter. In Zagreb, the median price is somewhat lower, standing at 2,299 euros.
Agricultural land on the Adriatic shows a significant difference compared to the rest of the country, with the highest median price of 38 euros per square meter in Fažana. The lowest prices are recorded in inland counties, where a square meter can cost as little as 0.1 euros.
Commercial spaces also show record prices in coastal areas, with the highest recorded price in 2023 being in Dubrovnik, where a square meter of commercial space was sold for 3,067 euros. Other cities like Split, Zadar, and Poreč also record high commercial space prices.
When it comes to apartment rentals, the highest prices were recorded in Zagreb, where the median rental price was 10.1 euros per square meter. This was followed by Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties, with prices of 9.3 and 8 euros per square meter, respectively.
