Croatia now has the second-fastest rising rents in the entire EU. Between the second quarter of 2025 and the same quarter of 2026, rental costs climbed 40.1 percent, behind only Romania's 43.5 percent, according to Eurostat figures analysed by Euronews. With inflation at 4.8 percent over the same period, that's a real-terms increase of more than 30 percent — and it's likely to show up in the price of holiday apartments along the Adriatic.

The EU average was a modest 3 percent, and in several countries — Finland, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, and big economies like Germany and France — rents actually fell once inflation is factored in. Neighbouring Slovenia, by contrast, saw a comparatively tame 10 percent rise. Widen the lens beyond the EU and Turkey tops the table at 49.6 percent annually, though with inflation above 30 percent there, the real increase is smaller than Croatia's.

So why is Croatia's rental market so overheated? University of Zagreb professor Gojko Bežovan points to the financialisation of housing: apartments and property for tourism have become the dominant form of saving, so many new-build units are bought as investments rather than homes — and often sit empty. Croatia introduced a tax on empty apartments in 2025, and Bežovan notes that reported rental contracts surged afterwards as owners moved units onto the market. The catch: many of these are higher-quality flats in bigger cities, priced well above the previous average, which pushes the overall rent figure up. Officials themselves attribute part of the rise to a decision by Zagreb's local authorities to raise social-rent prices.

The broader picture isn't much rosier for travellers. JLL's Emma Rosser warns that rents on newly signed leases across Europe are accelerating, driven by fierce competition for a limited supply of rental apartments — a supply-demand imbalance she says exists continent-wide. Researcher Dr Nóra Teller adds that higher borrowing costs since 2022 have pushed would-be first-time buyers into the rental market, while institutional investors increasingly treat housing as a financial asset rather than a social good.

For anyone planning a longer stay in Croatia — a month working remotely from Split, a summer base on Hvar — the takeaway is to book early and budget generously, as short-let and apartment rates are being pulled upward by the same forces. For a one-week holiday the impact is softer, but expect fewer bargains in high season, especially in cities and popular coastal towns where investment properties dominate. Croatia remains a superb destination; it's just no longer the budget steal it once was.

Reported by Total Croatia.