Property prices in Croatia

It is certainly a buyers market in my area and prices are low, I paid 14,000 Euros for my house in a tiny village near the river Drava. There are pitfalls though, as lots of houses were built or extended  illegally. The government tried to get everyone to have such properties legalised by having plans drawn up etc.  but a lot could not afford to employ surveyors and have such work done.

I didn't actually use estate agents, most of the properties I viewed were advertised privately on the Njuskalo website, which is a sort of Croatian Ebay. I don't seem to pay any property tax but I don't know if I'm supposed to be paying something. I don't go looking for extra bills!

If you are moving to Croatia to start a business and want to make money year round it is best to be in a more populated areas in the major cities to assure more success. the Islands and small tourist villages are great but they become ghost towns and deserted in the winter and makes staying there lonely and isolated . We choose Rijeka due to its close proximity to Istria, Italy, Austria and it is a major city and not seasonal living.
the Apartments run for about €1400/m2 houses are a little harder to find for sale and run for about €2400- 2800 /m2 in the better areas like Kostrena, Matljui, Lovran and Opatija. (Which are also good tourist rental areas)
You only pay a one time property tax of 5% ( which is paid by the seller - but is obviously included in the selling price) when buying your property after that there are no yearly taxes.

When buying a property it is always advisable to do it through a [u]reputable[/u] Agent who can check all katastar records and title deeds for you to make sure you not buying into years of problems and in the end not owning what you thought you buying.  They can also recommend to you what schools are better, which areas have better rental potential etc.
I know one person who thought he would be really clever and save agent commission by doing it himself he bought a privately advertised house near the beach in Istria what he thought was a bargain. the only one who made out was the seller who was thanking God for the Stupid gullible foreigner he could con. he ended up having a long 5 year fight with the neighbor about boundries as his seller had built on the neighbors property line his main entrance and doorway in the end the court ruled in favor of the neighbor he lost his front entrance his house got chopped in half to adhere to setback property lines etc so he was left with a small shack instead of a house, legal bills up the wahoo.
So I do not know how much he really saved on agent commission in the end!