Interview with CEO Ivan Kovačić for Jutarnji.hr

During the covid pandemic, CEO Ivan Kovačić noticed an increased interest of buyers for luxury real estate from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, because Croatia is accessible by car, many of them would replace their real estate in established European destinations with Croatia.

The new reality created by the pandemic opens the Croatian market the opportunity to attract a different, more prominent clientele, and to finally move away from customers who have learned to look at Croatia through the paradigm of the past and 'zimmer frei' tourism. Established destinations in this situation have lost their attractiveness for several reasons, of which the key role is certainly played by high population density.

Why are luxurious properties so rare in our country, although at first it may seem that many of them have been built in recent years?

Three elements are essential for the successful sale of any property, especially if the investor wants to build in the luxury segment. Location, concept and design, ie. architecture. In Croatia, there is significant space for optimization of these elements, with great emphasis on the concept and interior design. The architect is, of course, one of the extremely important links in the process of creating the preconditions for a successful and profitable sale of real estate, but it must also be on the right concept, ie. the architectural program. By nature it is not the job of the architect to define this, but of the consultants. There are a number of examples on the Croatian market where significant financial resources have been invested in buildings, but the architectural program itself has not been sufficiently considered and in the end such real estate is very difficult to sell due to suboptimal concepts.

We need to better understand what a luxury product really means in the international sense, what are the minimum room sizes and what are the amenities that the property must have. That is why our brokerage house provides a know-how advisory service to property owners and developers.

It is believed that wealthy customers prefer a property without the final finish and interior design so they can be able to edit to their liking. Is that really the case or do luxury properties sell best and fastest when they are decorated to the smallest detail?

Very little importance is attached to interior design in the local market. Owners and developers generally do not want to invest in serious interior design or, if they do, do not allocate enough money. Interior design and furnishing is the last thing to save on, because this part of the investment is the most visible to the buyer and something with which he will be in the most contact through the use of real estate.

If you would like to read the full article, click on the following link: Jutarnji.hr