October the 13th, 2026 – Rent in Croatia rose by a staggering 40% in one single year, with only Romania being worse in this regard in the entire EU.
Rent costs for apartments have risen noticeably across all of Europe, and in the most recent period Romania and Croatia have been hit the hardest. Index reports that in an analysis published by Euronews, the annual growth in rents and the specific reasons for such trends in these two countries were examined. Rents in many European countries are rising faster than the general inflation rate, reports N1.
From the second quarter of 2025 to the same period in 2026, actual expenditure on residential rents in the European Union rose by three percent. According to Eurostat data, annual growth ranged from zero percent in Finland to as much as 43.5 percent in Romania. Croatia is immediately behind it with growth of 40.1 percent. In the same period overall inflation in Romania was 9.5 percent and in Croatia 4.8 percent, which means that rents in both countries rose in real terms by more than 30 percent. The third-largest increase in the EU was recorded by Slovenia, at 10 percent, or a little more than six percent after adjustment for inflation.
The institutions that supply data to Eurostat explained to Euronews Business the reasons for such increases. According to the Romanian government, the main cause is “the increase in administratively determined rents,” i.e. those for apartments owned by the state or local units. However, Dr Adriana M. Soaita of the University of Glasgow doubts that explanation.
“Public rental apartments make up a negligible share of the total housing stock,” she told Euronews Business. She noted that rents in such apartments are so much lower than those on the private market that even tripling them would not significantly affect the average.
“If even after adjustment for inflation, Eurostat’s methodology and the informal sector we still record a large increase in rents, the cause could be the entry of newly built or completely renovated properties onto the market,” Soaita believes.
“a significant part of croatia’s housing stock has become the subject of financial investment”
In Croatia, the sharp rise in rent costs, according to the institution that supplies the data, is “a consequence of the decision of the local authorities in Zagreb to increase rents in the social-rental category.” Professor Gojko Bežovan of the University of Zagreb pointed out that a significant part of the Croatian housing stock has become the subject of financial investments. Investments in apartments and real estate for tourism have become the dominant form of saving.
Because of this, a large share of apartments in new buildings are not bought for living in but as an investment, and they often remain empty. Bežovan emphasised that Croatia introduced a tax on empty apartments from 2025, after which during 2025 and 2026 the number of rental contracts reported to the Tax Administration increased significantly. “As a primary result of that, a larger number of higher-quality residential units entered the rental market in larger cities, with rents that significantly exceed the average,” he told Euronews Business. When candidate countries for EU membership and EFTA states are included in the analysis, the largest rent increase is recorded by Turkey, where the annual rise amounted to 49.6 percent.
croatia is among the worst examples of this
Unlike Romania and Croatia, in Turkey there was no sudden jump; prices rose gradually. With inflation that exceeded 30 percent, the real growth in rents was smaller than in Romania and Croatia. Double-digit growth was also recorded in Serbia, where rents rose by 12.5 percent. Growth of more than five percent was also recorded in Bulgaria (9.9 percent), North Macedonia (9.2 percent), Iceland (8.6 percent), Greece (7.5 percent), Czechia (6.2 percent), Albania (6 percent), Slovakia (5.3 percent), Lithuania (5.3 percent) and Portugal (5.2 percent).
Among the four largest economies of the European Union, only Italy with growth of 3.5 percent was above the EU average. In Spain the growth amounted to 2.5 percent, in Germany 2.1 percent and in France 1.6 percent. In those three countries, as well as in Belgium, Estonia, Finland and Luxembourg, rents did not rise in real terms when inflation is taken into account.
Emma Rosser, director of residential market research at the company JLL, pointed out that overall Eurostat data do not show extremely large increases. Nevertheless, it appears that the growth in rents for newly concluded leases remains high and is accelerating, which could indicate future problems. “Strong competition for a limited number of rental apartments in European cities is driving strong price growth for new rental contracts,” she told Euronews Business. She added that the imbalance between supply and demand is present across Europe.
housing as a financial asset and not as a social good
Dr Nóra Teller, a researcher at the Metropolitan Research Institute in Budapest, said that rent growth is driven by economic and demographic factors, but also by constraints on the supply side. “A long period of low interest rates until a few years ago encouraged borrowing in order to buy property. However, back in 2022, the costs of borrowing rose sharply, which directed many who intended to buy property for the first time towards the private rental market,” she said. She also emphasised that the financialisation of the housing market encourages price growth, because institutional investors and other owners increasingly view housing as a financial asset rather than a social good.
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