According to recently released figures by the Ministry of Finance, 13,883 properties in Croatia were purchased by foreign buyers between 2010 and 2013. A steady decrease in the number of foreign buyers purchasing each year has been documented with 5,445 transactions in 2010, 5,087 in 2011 and just 3,351 in 2012.
According to the figures Slovenians remain the most likely to purchase a property in Croatia, however they are the nation that has seen the greatest fall in the number of buyers. 2010 saw 2,245 Slovenians purchase property in Croatia but this fell to just 1,287 by 2012.
Germans, Italians and Austrians make up the remaining top 4 foreign buyers in the list, with Swedes being the only group relatively maintaining purchasing levels since 2010. In 2010 they accounted for 189 real estate transactions, in 2011 there was a slight drop to 156 and 2012 saw a steady 143 properties purchased.
It is interesting to note that amongst the many nationalities of foreign buyers not one property was purchased by a Russian national due to the laws around property prohibit private individuals from Russia buying property without special exception. For this reason many Russians set up companies in Croatia and purchase their new homes through them.