How much are Croatian property sellers really cutting their asking prices?

A total of €42 million has been removed from asking prices on Croatian property listings over the past 100 days, according to an analysis of more than 25,000 tracked listings by property portal Kvadratko.

The data shows that 4.1% of tracked listings for apartments, houses and land for sale had their asking prices reduced, while 1.7% recorded increases. Around 94% remained at their original asking price.

Among properties with price reductions, the typical cut was 7.5%, equivalent to approximately €20,000.

The figures reflect asking prices on listings tracked by Kvadratko, rather than the entire Croatian property market. Istria accounts for around 45% of the tracked listings, meaning regional figures are best assessed individually.

The extent of price reductions varied considerably depending on the type of property.

Among apartments for sale, 544 of 11,291 tracked listings, or 4.8%, recorded a reduction. The typical cut was 6.1%, or €16,000.

For houses, 331 of 8,107 listings, representing 4.1%, had their asking prices reduced. The typical reduction was larger, at 8.5%, or €35,400.

Land recorded the lowest share of reductions. Of 5,809 tracked listings, 166, or 2.9%, saw their asking prices fall. However, the typical percentage reduction was the highest among the three property types, at 12.6%, equivalent to €15,000.

Rental apartments showed a different pattern. Of 904 tracked listings, 83, or 9.2%, had their asking prices reduced. The typical reduction was 11.1%.

Overall, half of all price reductions fell between 4.3% and 11.8%. Cuts of almost 20% or more were relatively uncommon, affecting around one in ten reduced listings.

Some properties required multiple adjustments. Almost one in ten listings with a reduced price had been reduced at least twice, suggesting that an initial price cut does not always lead to a final asking price.

Zagreb leads in the share of price reductions

Regional figures also show differences in how frequently sellers have adjusted their asking prices.

The City of Zagreb recorded the highest share of reduced listings among the counties included in the analysis. Of 1,521 tracked properties, 116, or 7.6%, had lower asking prices. The typical reduction was 6.1%, or €16,000.

In Zagreb County, 6.6% of tracked listings had their prices reduced, with a typical cut of 8.7%, equivalent to €20,000.

Šibenik-Knin County recorded reductions on 5.2% of listings, while Zadar County registered 4.2%. The typical reductions were 8.7% and 7.9%, respectively.

In euro terms, Zadar and Split-Dalmatia counties recorded some of the largest typical cuts, at €30,000 and €32,500 respectively.

In Split-Dalmatia County, 4.1% of tracked listings had reduced asking prices, compared with 4.2% in Zadar County.

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County recorded reductions on 4.1% of listings, with a typical cut of 5.8%, or €16,000.

In Istria, where the portal had 11,361 tracked listings, 3.3% recorded a reduction. The typical cut was 7.7%, or €20,000.

In Zadar County, one in four listings with a price reduction had been reduced more than once.

Price changes typically come after three weeks

The analysis also examined how long properties remained on the market before their asking prices first changed.

Among listings tracked from their initial publication that subsequently recorded a price change, the typical time until the first adjustment was 22 days.

Price reductions took longer to appear than increases. The typical first reduction occurred after 25 days, while increases were recorded after 16 days.

These figures relate to listings with a recorded price change and do not indicate how long properties generally take to sell.

The data also examined what happened to apartment listings published over the summer.

Of those listed for sale, 38% had subsequently been removed from the portal. For rental apartments, the proportion was higher, at 63%.

However, a listing disappearing does not necessarily mean a property has been sold or rented.

By comparing photographs, Kvadratko identified listings that appeared to have been reposted with a new publication date. Some 21.5% of removed sale listings were identified as returning in this way, compared with 8.3% of rental listings.

After accounting for recognised relistings, the analysis found that up to 29% of sale apartments and 58% of rental apartments were no longer found on the portal or among the listings identified as reposted.

The figures do not establish whether the properties were sold, rented, withdrawn or advertised elsewhere.

Asking prices do not show the final sale price

The findings provide an indication of how sellers adjust their expectations while properties remain advertised, but they do not reveal the prices ultimately agreed between buyers and sellers.

Croatia’s National Housing Policy Plan estimates a housing shortfall of 237,000 homes. In Istria, Zadar and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties, between a quarter and a third of the housing stock is used for tourist rentals, according to the context cited alongside the analysis.

Kvadratko says it tracks changes in the asking prices of individual listings and allows users to view price histories and sort searches by recent reductions.

The analysis compares the first and last recorded asking prices for each tracked listing. Changes below 0.5% are disregarded, while price movements exceeding a threefold ratio are excluded as potential data corrections. Inactive listings remain included in the statistics.

The term “typical” refers to the median, meaning half of the relevant listings recorded a smaller change and half a larger one.

The results therefore offer a snapshot of advertised property prices rather than a measure of completed transactions or a definitive indication of the direction of Croatia’s overall housing market.