Josip Zaher, the vice president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), which organised the forum, said that positive trends could be noticed on the real estate market this year, such as as a deceleration in the price drop.
"The market will definitely not reach the levels from 2008, when 60,000 transactions were conducted in Croatia. This year we will have had 30,000 transactions," Zaher said, welcoming the fact that prices were dropping at a slower rate.
Business should improve in the coming years on the back of the improving purchasing power of citizens, he added.
Zaher also noted that the professionalism in the real estate sector had been upgraded in recent years, with over 3,000 applicants passing exams for real estate agents, while there are 877 real estate agencies entered into the relevant registry.
Construction Ministry official Nada Mardjetko Skoro spoke about the importance of the energy certification of property.
"We have the example of Vienna, where energy efficiency levels are more important than location in some cases of property sale," she said.
She warned that 50% of buildings in Croatia had been built before 1970, when not much attention had been paid to energy efficiency.