Citizens Already Calling for POS Plus Apartments

This week, the program to stimulate the sale of newly built POS Plus apartments has started, which, according to the Minister of Construction and Spatial Planning Anka Mrak Taritaš, aims to thaw the sale of 20,000 new apartments.

POS Plus would thus help builders and buyers, but also the state budget, although there are those who claim that such a move primarily benefits the banks.

Another criticism is directed at the conditioned price of a maximum of 1,400 euros per square meter, as, according to some real estate experts, it is almost impossible to find new construction at that price in larger cities like Zagreb and Split.

“In Zagreb and Split, we do not expect that apartments will be found for 1,400; that is for some other cities – Rijeka or Varaždin. In our opinion, the market should be stimulated through lower interest rates and subsidies,” said real estate advisor Patrick Franolić for RTL.

His opinion is not shared at Erste, where they highlight locations that would fit into POS Plus, such as Zagreb-Voltino, Zagreb-Lanište, Zaprešić, Sisak, Pazin, Bjelovar…

“The situation in the real estate market is very complex and should be viewed as such. The POS Plus program is a quality response to part of this problem and will, on one hand, provide a very good impetus for its resolution while, on the other hand, it will be an excellent foundation for continuing similar initiatives to ultimately recover the market,” commented Robert Pokrovac from Erste Real Estate. He believes that POS Plus has not arrived too late, adding that they are currently recording an increased number of client calls expressing interest in participating in the project.

“This best shows that the market has reacted positively,” says Pokrovac.

He cites a specific example of a loan calculation for an apartment in Zagreb’s Voltino, measuring 59.38 square meters, priced at 1,200 euros per square meter, or 71,256 euros. The required down payment amounts to 10,688 euros, the interest rate is 5.21 percent, while the total loan amount is 60,567 euros with a repayment period of 25 years and a monthly annuity of 318 euros.