Martin Westby, director of the British company "Croatia Holiday and Home", which advises buyers of real estate in Croatia, attributes the successful sales in Croatia's northern Adriatic peninsula to low cost cost flights to and from Western Europe and simpler transactions than elsewhere in Croatia.
According to figures from 2005, Istria leads the way in terms of foreign property, with 34 per cent of real estate owned by foreigners. In the southern Adriatic resort of Dubrovnik, popular with tourists, this figure is below 10 per cent, New York Times said in its tourism supplement Escapes, citing Croatian Chamber of the Economy figures.
The highest house prices in inland Istria revolve around 1,500 euros per square metre, against 2,300 euros on the peninsula's coast. In Dubrovnik, on the other hand, it is hard to find anything below 3,000 euros per square metre.
The newspaper warned potential buyers about difficulties with transfer of ownership in the purchase of real estate and recommends hiring Croatian lawyers.
According to real estate agents, many foreigners are buying houses now, expecting prices of real estate to go through the roof in 2009, when Croatia joins the EU, as happened with Bulgaria's accession earlier this year and when the Czech Republic joined the bloc in 2004.
The daily also voiced concern with rampant development and said that the Croatian government had toughened regulations in order to slow down construction and have more control over it.