Awareness of the environment is one of the most important themes of modern society, but equally important is the one about saving, that is the rational consumption of energy.
Croatia is also engaged in this area and so it created an energy certification for each building on the property market. Everything must have an energy certificate and a clearly defined energy consumption for heating, cooling and ventilation, and this document will become a part of any sales contract. The buildings will be divided into classes A +, A, B, C, D, E, F and G.
Energy consumption will surely become an important criterion when buying a home and business premises.
Energy card will also be given to hotels, restaurants, sports venues and all public buildings. Exceptions are only buildings smaller than 50 squares, churches, monuments and industrial buildings.
In Croatia, there are a million buildings that will have to get an energy certificate, and the deadline for the adjustment is entry to the European Union. Certification will be given by qualified personnel, and so far about 50 people passed the “school” to be qualified certification experts. For now, no building in Croatia has a certificate. The investor who builds a new building shall have to provide an energy certificate before usage of the building.
What does the certificate bring to the market?
- It contributes to order on the property market
- Gives a clear picture of energy consumption
- Proof of quality
- Improvement of marketing

New Act encourages state loans of 100-300 euros per square meter to purchase a flat. The amount of the loan depends on the price, the longest repayment term is 30 years and the longest grace period 20 years, the annual interest rate is 2% for the grace period and 5% for repayment period. The interest will not be taxed. The user may at any time terminate a grace period or repayment and pay the balance as a whole.

During 2009 there has been a stagnation in the real estate market in Croatia, and similar continued in 2010. One of the main reasons for stagnation is the decline in the purchasing power of citizens. This Law regulates the granting of loans from state funds when purchasing a flat. State funding was secured from the State budget and the final amount will be determined by the Croatian Government. The loan, of course, is repayed in the favor of the State budget. Enactment of the Act should enable the builders to use funds obtained from the sale to start a new cycle of building and give favorable credit terms to customers with state help.

The loan is approved by the Agency for Transactions and Mediation in Real Estate, which performs all other duties related to Loan Agreement. An applicant for a loan must submit a copy of the identification card, purchase agreement for the flat, proof that he has secured funding, a copy of the document for the use of buildings and public notary certified statement that he owns no flat or has only one apartment that is for sale, and if you are married a statement that the spouse has no flat. Complete application for a loan is one that from the time of submission contains all the contributions required by law. Users of the loan that do not respond to the invitation to contract loses the right to contract. The Loan Agreement shall contain a statement which allows registration of a mortgage on the property.

The amount of loan that is granted in any particular case depends on the price per square meter:
€ 300 to € 1000
€ 250 from € 1,001 to € 1,150
€ 200 from € 1,151 to € 1,300
€ 150 from € 1,301 to € 1,450
€ 100 from € 1,451 to € 1,600

Rate of housing loans from banks in Croatia is higher than the one payed for renting. This is a problem for most Croats …
Because of the difficult financial situation, Croatian citizens often opt for subtenantship, that is they life in other people’s homes for a fee. In developed Western countries this is not so strange, as the majority of people spend a lifetime as tenants, but here the ownership of a property has always been placed high on the priority list, especially since the subtenantship binds a number of problems.
One problem is the disproportion in the price and size of the apartment, so going to a small flat has the same cost as an apartment twice as big. Quality and equipment of the flats are also not consistent with the high prices. In student centers such as Zagreb and Rijeka these problems are more prominent. A large number of tenants are living in unregistered homes and most of them tolerate it cause otherwise prices would rise. In such cases they do not enter into a legal contract, so it often happens that the owner does not fulfill his obligations to tenants or does not give them back their refundable deposit.
Since there are almost no legal applications from landlord, official figures say that there are almost no subtenants in Croatia and the last data says it is a little more than 40,000 households. However, it is estimated that the actual figure is three times higher.
Now we go back to the beginning… The Croats want their own apartment and subtenantship is considered only as a temporary situation, so they are rarely paying attention the problems.

With all the economic problems, year 2010 also led to a drop in credit and debt. Something like this last time happened in early 2000 and analysts estimate that a significant increase in demand could come only in one year.
National Bank of Croatia reported that at the end of February total loans of commercial banks amounted to more than 250 billion, which is something fewer than 1% less than same time last year. A decline in loans to financial institutions and individuals contributed to this decline.
In February, decline of credit to households continued for the fifth month in a row, and they were eventually totaled to about 120 billion, 3.5% lower than at the end of the same month in 2009. Analysts believe that the reason behind this is the growth of unemployment and reduction of income due to falling wages. Housing loans, which account for about 40% of total loans to households, still recorded an annual growth, but only 0.2%.
The annual growth rate of loans to enterprises fell to just over 1%, and their amount at the end of February is about 100 billion.
Lending to the government in early 2009. reached almost record amounts of growth. Towards the end of the year the need to fund reduced and so did the loans from domestic banks, so the growth rate became less and less. Thus, at the end of February loans to the state totaled about 30 billion, which is almost 4% more than in February 2009.
Analysts believe that government incentives for buying a first property could only slightly improve the demand for housing loans, but without an increase in employment there will not be a true recovery in loans market. The growth of seasonal employment during the summer could increase demand for short-term loans, but this is questionable because of the pessimism that prevails among Croatian citizens.
Since the situation is worse in domestic firms because of the crisis, rapid financial recovery and increased demand for loans in the economic sector is not realistic. However, measures of financial assistance by the Government might improve the situation a bit.