Although the price of a square meter in Zagreb is among the lowest compared to the square prices in the capitals of European Union (EUaverage incomes, the price of a square meter in Zagreb significantly rises, making it more expensive for its citizens than, for example, Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki, and Copenhagen.
Zagreb residents must pay slightly more than three times the average monthly income for a square meter of an apartment in the city center, while a square meter of an apartment outside the center will cost them slightly less than two salaries.
These are the data provided by the online service Numbeo, which collects information from open sources and through crowd-sourcing, applying filters and heuristic algorithms, allowing for precise approximations. Numbeo is a widespread and reliable service, to the extent that Deutsche Bank uses its data to compile an annual overview of the cost of living in global metropolises.
However, since Zagreb is not included in that DB research, we examined Numbeo ourselves, established the average prices of square meters in and outside the center of Zagreb, related them to the average salary, and compared all of this with the same data for other EU capital cities.
Zagreb ranks 18th in the EU by square meter price in the center
According to Numbeo, the average price of a square meter of an apartment in the center of Zagreb is €4,946. Although, given the frequent public comments about the excessively high prices in the real estate market in Croatia, one might expect that Zagreb could be among the European leaders, it is far from that in this category. It ranks only 18th. Its neighbor Ljubljana is slightly higher, in 15th place with a square meter price in the city center of €5,479.
The most expensive in Europe are Paris, where a square meter costs €11,905 in the center, Luxembourg where it costs €11,128, Stockholm with €10,200 per square meter, and Vienna where one must pay €9,245 for a square meter in the center. Less than three thousand euros for a square meter in the center is only found in Riga and Nicosia.
Lisbon and Prague: Five salaries for a square meter in the center
However, to gain a correct perception of how much it really costs, it is necessary to compare this price with average net incomes. According to Numbeo data, for a square meter of an apartment in the center of Zagreb, one needs slightly more than three average salaries, placing Zagreb in 13th position. In neighboring Ljubljana, which is easiest to compare with Zagreb, a square meter in the center costs 342% of the average monthly income.
Ljubljana ranks sixth among all European capitals by this criterion, meaning it is not only realistically expensive but also among the most expensive. The worst are Lisbon, where a square meter costs €6,325, which amounts to almost five average monthly salaries, and Prague, where a square meter in the urban center costs €8,612 or 434% of the average monthly salary in that city.
Comparatively more favorable than Zagreb is Vienna, where such a square meter costs 288% of the average salary, as well as Valletta (260%), Luxembourg (247%), Berlin (233%), Amsterdam (218%), Copenhagen (213%), and Dublin (192%).
Periphery: Zagreb among the 10 most expensive in relation to salaries
Regarding apartment prices outside the city center, Zagreb fares slightly better in terms of price itself, but worse in terms of its share in the average salary. Specifically, Numbeo’s calculation shows that outside the center of Zagreb, a square meter of an apartment costs €3,123, placing the Croatian capital in 22nd place. Only Tallinn (€3,035), Sofia (€2,222), Nicosia (€1,989), Bucharest (€1,928), and Riga (€1,710) have cheaper square meters than Zagreb outside the city center.
The least affordable are Paris, where a square meter in the periphery costs €8,054, and Luxembourg, where it costs €7,816. In comparable Ljubljana, a square meter in the suburbs costs €4,169, placing it in 12th position by price alone.
The true picture only emerges when the prices of square meters in the periphery of the capitals are related to the average net salary. A square meter in the suburbs of Zagreb, in fact, costs almost two full monthly salaries (192% of the average income), making our capital among the ten most expensive in Europe by this ratio. Ljubljana is the 4th most expensive, as one must pay almost two and a half average salaries (244%) for a square meter of an apartment outside the center in the capital of Slovenia.
Prague is the most expensive for apartments outside the center, Brussels the most affordable
Prague is the most expensive, where a square meter in the periphery costs €6,261, which is slightly more than three monthly salaries (316% of the average monthly income), followed by Lisbon (301%) and Athens (290%). The most affordable for purchasing outside the center is the European metropolis Brussels, where one must pay €3,125 for a square meter, which is three percent more than the average monthly salary. Behind Zagreb are Berlin (166%), Vienna (163%), Amsterdam (153%), Helsinki (150%), Copenhagen (146%), and Dublin (142%), where a square meter of an apartment outside the city center is comparatively cheaper than in our capital.
It is particularly interesting that by this parameter, Zagreb is more affordable than Belgrade and Sarajevo. Although an apartment in Zagreb is more expensive per square meter than in those two cities, in relation to the average salary, it is more accessible. A square meter of an apartment in the center of Sarajevo costs €2,855, which is about 340% of the average monthly income in that city, while in the center of Belgrade it costs €4,118, which is more than four average salaries. A square meter outside the center of Belgrade costs €2,533 or about two and a half average monthly salaries, while outside the center of Sarajevo it costs €1,909 or 227% of the average income.
In conclusion, from Numbeo’s data, it is clear that Zagreb already belongs to the group of capitals where acquiring property is less affordable than in some European metropolises, even though the square meter costs more there. Due to the weaker purchasing power of households in Croatia, resolving housing issues through ownership is increasingly difficult to cover with salaries, which is why it is becoming more of a political rather than just an economic issue, the resolution of which has not yet been aided by the introduction of property taxes.
