How to find an apartment or house to rent in Croatia: Guide for 2023

UPDATED: 12.7.2023.

Croatia is comprised of ten unique regions, so rental prices, availability, and amenities can vary widely. As you would expect, rental prices in popular cities are generally higher than those in more remote locations, and supply is currently tight due to high demand. Zagreb, Zaprešić, Velika Gorica, Split, and other towns along the Adriatic coast are experiencing this situation.

On the other side, Lika, rental rates in Banija, Kordun, and eastern Croatia tend to be lower. These regions usually aren’t as popular. People are leaving them for places with better living standards and more available jobs.

However, trends have started to change. After the earthquakes that occurred in Croatia in 2020, and that continue to happen once in a while, some cities and villages are once again becoming popular places to live. Good examples are Gorski kotar and smaller cities close to Zagreb.

Finding the perfect apartment or house to rent in Croatia isn’t always easy, but this article provides guidance and links to resources that will help you find a place to call home.

In this post, we cover:

• Average rental prices
• How to find a place to rent
• Get help to find a place in Split

Let’s find a perfect place to live…

How to find an apartment or house to rent in Croatia

Monthly apartment rental prices in Croatia

The average rental prices have drastically risen during the last few years. The main reason for this increase in prices is vacation rentals. Landlords believe they can earn more money from short-term tourists than long-term tenants.  This presents a special challenge when searching for a year-round apartment in tourist areas, like the Adriatic coast, where landlords prefer to rent from October to May or June.

[Read: How to rent out a house or apartment in Croatia to long-term tenants]

If you’re coming from abroad, it’s important that you research prices before settling on a place to live. Some apartment owners will take advantage of uninformed foreigners by charging extremely high prices. This is important because when people agree to pay rents that are far above the local average, it ends up raising the average rent for everybody. This is harmful since rent is becoming drastically out of proportion to Croatian salaries.

[Read: Minimum wage salaries in Croatia]

Average apartment rental prices for 30 to 45 m2 in Croatia

We bring you approximate prices that you SHOULD expect to pay for a studio or small one-bedroom apartment, but ultimately the cost will depend on the exact location, living space, types of amenities (e.g., parking, furnished), and whether the unit was recently built or renovated. All prices shown are in Euros per month.

[Read: How to apply for residence based on prepayment of rent]

Dubrovnik

• City center: 400 – 700€
• Outside the city center: 300 – 400€

Koprivnica

• 270 – 300€

Osijek

• City center: 250 – 400€
• Outside the city center: 200 – 300€

Pula

• City center: 250 – 500€
• Outside the city center: 240 – 450€

Rijeka

• City center: 400 – 700€
• Outside the city center: 250 – 350€

Split

• City center : 300 – 1.700€
• Outside the city center: 300 – 800€

Varaždin

• City center: 270 – 600€
• Outside the city center: 200 – 500€

Zadar

• City center: 350 – 650€
• Outside the city center: 230 – 380€

Zagreb

• City center: 380 – 1.300€
• Outside the city center: 290 – 600€

If you want to buy a residential property, view the latest prices in Croatia’s biggest cities here.

[Read: How to buy residential real estate in Croatia]

How to find an apartment to rent in Croatia

Now that you know which prices to expect for renting an apartment in Croatia, you can begin your search. There are a variety of ways you can find an apartment in Croatia. Let’s go through each one.

#1 Word of mouth

When looking for an apartment to rent in Croatia, your first step should be to ask friends and family if they have heard of any apartments going up for rent. This is by far the best way to find an apartment because you can:

• Avoid agency fees, which amount to one month’s rent
• Get access to an apartment before it is listed, reducing competition
• Get the best rate on rent since you are being referred by someone the owner knows

#2 Facebook groups

In addition to asking friends and family, or if you are brand new to Croatia, you can also leverage Expat Facebook Groups to find an apartment.

These groups are a great English-language place to publish that you are looking for an apartment or to find posts from those who are letting their apartments. A complete list of the Expat Facebook Groups in Croatia broken down by city is available here.

There are also Croatian-language Facebook Groups where available apartments are posted, including:

• Iznajmljivanje stanova Osijek/Stanovi Osijek (Osijek)
• Stanovi za najam Pula (Pula)
• Iznajmljivanje stanova Rijeka i okolica (Rijeka)
• Najam stanova Split i okolica bez agencije (Split)
• Najam stanova Zagreb (Zagreb)

However, we strongly advise you not to go into these groups and post your budget. This approach can contribute to the problem of increased rental rates that is noted above. Hubs like Zagreb and Split have been severely impacted due to foreigners posting super high budgets in these groups.

#3 Njuškalo.hr

If you don’t have family here, haven’t yet made friends, or haven’t had any luck in the Facebook groups, many websites can be very helpful. The biggest and most popular website to find an apartment in Croatia is Njuškalo, available here.

Njuškalo.hr is Croatia’s most extensive online advertisement website. It is a marketplace that connects hundreds of thousands of buyers and sellers daily. It has over 1.4 million customers and over 250.000 new items on sale monthly.

[Read: An English guide to Njuškalo (Croatia’s Craigslist)]

Njuškalo has a section for apartment and home rentals in Croatia. A large number of real estate properties are offered for rent, including apartments, single rooms, houses, garages, office space, and land. Each ad will include property photos, descriptions, specs, and prices.

The complete real estate section on Njuškalo called Nekretnine is available here. Given that it is in Croatian and has multiple subsections, we’ve created a cheat sheet with links for all real estate sections on Njuškalo.

Njuškalo real estate sections

#4 Other sites for finding apartments to rent

There are also other Croatian web sites where you can dig for an apartment in addition to Njuškalo. Some of them are available in English.

Here is the list of the most popular ones:

• Burza
• Crozilla.com
• GoHome
• Index oglasi
• Najam.hr
• Nekretnine 365
• Oglasnik.hr
• Oglas.hr
• Podstanar.hr
• Real Estate Croatia

#5 Go for a walk

This may seem like an old-fashioned way of looking for an apartment, but it can be effective in Croatia. Take a walk around the neighborhoods where you want to live. Landlords sometimes put “for rent” signs in front of their houses or the window of the free apartment.

Look for “IZNAJMLJUJE SE”, which means “for rent”.

During your stroll, you can also check out the notice boards in buildings or find rental signs posted around the neighborhood.

#6 Newspapers

Believe it or not, newspapers can be a good source for finding apartments. Plavi oglasnik is the most popular, and it contains only advertisements. Other daily and weekly newspapers such as Večernji list, Jutarnji list, and 24sata usually contain an ad section in their print issues. Take a pauza, grab a paper, and sip some kava while you peruse the listings.

[Read: Where to get your Croatian news]

We wish you a successful apartment search! Remember that finding the perfect place to live is always stressful, so take your time, take it easy, and you will succeed.

Get help finding a home in the area of Split, Croatia

Are you planning a move to the Split area? If so, we can help you find a place to call home.

As we shared in this post, finding a place to live in Croatia can be challenging. It is made a lot easier when you have a local who knows the good spots (and bad), can share the realities of what you can (and cannot) find, and advocate and negotiate on your behalf with the landlord.

We can help by:

• Combing all listings to find properties that best match your criteria
• Personally accompanying you to view the properties
• Pointing out red flags about a property
• Sharing local knowledge about the neighborhoods and renting in Croatia
• Negotiating with the landlord to make sure you get the best price
• Reviewing the contract according to the requirements of the police and making sure it protects your interests by Croatian law
• Finding a cleaner once you’re all moved in
• Explaining utility payment and what to expect from your landlord
• Guiding you in setting up the internet
• Coordinating with the real estate agent, if required, for a property
• Translating at every step

If you’re ready to get started in your property search, please complete the form below. To get started, we will schedule a free 15-minute call so you can meet us and we can get to know what your needs.

At this time, this service is only available in the Split area. We look forward to meeting you!

View our other property posts

• Guide on how to get a residence permit based on property
• How to buy residential real estate in Croatia
• How to create a legally binding contract
• How to find property ownership records in Croatia
• How to get a mortgage loan in Croatia
• How to rent out a house or apartment in Croatia to long-term tenants
• Residential property prices in Croatia’s biggest cities
• Things to know about getting a mortgage

Source:
njuskalo.hr