The situation on the local business real estate market is far from perfect.
There is a lot of unoccupied office space in Croatia, especially in Zagreb, but there is still not enough quality office space that is becoming increasingly interesting to potential tenants, reports Poslovni.hr on May 18, 2016.
Denis Čupić, a director of the real estate company F.O. Development, said there is a certain difference between the general impression and the real situation on the market. “Today, many investors, encouraged by the headlines in the media announcing the recovery of the market, expect their real estate to be rented at much higher prices compared to the actual market prices. This is where problems usually appear between the investors’ expectations, the abilities of tenants, bank terms and conditions, and companies like ours which are participating in this entire process between the idea, capital and the user”, said Čupić.
As an example, he pointed out that the situation in the real estate market had changed significantly compared to the period five or seven years ago. There was a lot of construction in the meantime, and a number of companies which were renting space do not exist anymore or have moved to other regional centres such as Budapest or Belgrade.
“It is almost a standard practice today to give a ‘rent free’ period of one to one and a half years when making a rent agreement. This means that, if the gross rent price is 15 or 18 euros per square metre, the actual price is much lower”, Čupić said. Also, a large number of companies are satisfied with the lower class of office space or rather with the B category space.
In Croatia, it is not unusual for companies to even look for a C category space, which costs about six to eight euros per month. Although the office space abounds, Čupić added, there is a lack of attractive facilities in the centre of Zagreb. “There are attractive buildings such as Sky Office which is located on the outskirts of the city and is not connected well with the city. But, more of these attractive buildings are needed in the upcoming period and they should be built on better locations”, he concluded.
