Trends Shaping the Real Estate Market
When choosing a location for construction, the decision should not be based only on impressions or appearance. The foundation is always thorough market research. A location must be viewed through several key factors that drive property prices: the arrival of new employers, infrastructure development, population trends, and the availability of building land. These indicators, confirmed through various studies, serve as a kind of checklist for predicting the growth potential of a particular area.
Jobs as a Growth Driver
The economic logic is simple: where jobs are created, housing prices rise. Research (Agnew, 2018; Kishor, 2022) shows that employment growth directly increases property values in the surrounding area. This can already be seen in the Zagreb region. In Sveta Nedelja, Rimac’s new campus was built, which will employ up to 2,500 people, and this will naturally boost housing demand in nearby areas such as Samobor and Orešje Okićko.
Infrastructure and Accessibility
Another powerful factor is infrastructure. New roads and investments in public facilities usually increase land values, often by 5 to 20 percent within just a few years. Sveta Nedelja is an example of a municipality that connected its highway access to business zones, positioning itself as one of the most attractive places for entrepreneurs. For residents, that means a quieter life outside the city center yet with quick access to Zagreb. This balance is exactly what attracts an increasing number of buyers.
Migration and Lifestyle
Demographic trends further strengthen this picture. In 2024, the IMF emphasized that strong demand and limited supply continue to push housing prices in Croatia upward. At the same time, global analyses show that remote work has changed what buyers look for. According to NBER (2022), the rise of remote work was responsible for over half of the housing price increase between 2020 and 2021. Instead of crowded city centers, families and young professionals are increasingly seeking homes in suburban areas with gardens and greenery, which perfectly fits the western outskirts of Zagreb.
Scarcity and Market Pressure
Finally, scarcity of land itself plays a decisive role. Analyses (Premium-Nekretnine, 2023) show that limited supply of building plots is one of the main reasons for the steady price growth. Within a 20–30 km radius of Zagreb, there are fewer and fewer free, properly zoned plots, which makes every such location more valuable. Statistics confirm the pressure: in 2023, apartment prices in Zagreb rose by 11.9% compared to the previous year, while Avison Young reported in 2025 that the vacancy rate fell to a historic low of below 2.5%. When the city is that full, demand naturally shifts toward suburbs like Samobor and Sveta Nedelja.
New Patterns of Space Use
Beyond traditional housing demand, the short-term rental segment has also grown in recent years. Tourists and domestic guests increasingly look for weekend getaways in nature—houses or apartments that offer privacy, greenery, and amenities such as jacuzzis or saunas. According to the Croatian Tourist Board, the “wellness escape” trend in the continental part of the country grows year after year, while Airbnb and Booking continue to record a rising number of reservations in suburban and rural areas around Zagreb.
Orešje Okićko as a Logical Choice
When all these trends are put together, Orešje Okićko stands out as a logical choice for development. The proximity of major employers and new business zones, good road connections with Zagreb, growing demand from families and young professionals for a peaceful life surrounded by nature, and increasing interest in short-term rentals and wellness escapes—all of these factors make this location both secure and promising. The risk is low because the project is not dependent on a single factor but on a network of interconnected trends that together ensure stable value and long-term demand.
Finding the Right Plot
There are three main ways to find an ideal building plot. The first is through online listings such as Njuškalo, Plavi oglasnik, Index, and others. The second is through real estate agencies, which often have access to plots before they reach the public market. The third, less common but sometimes very rewarding method, is to actively explore the area and contact owners directly using the public cadastre system Uređena zemlja. Each of these approaches has its pros and cons, but when used together, they create the best chance of finding a plot with both potential and negotiation leverage.
Online Listings
In Croatia, several listing platforms are popular, but buyers often make the mistake of ignoring lesser-known ones. The key is not only to follow the “big” sites but to understand the mindset of sellers. The ideal scenario is when you find a listing with low visibility—one that no one has called about yet, and where you have no competitors. Even better if the ad is poorly made, with bad or missing photos or grammar mistakes that turn other buyers away. Such listings can offer the best opportunities, as the seller may be uncertain about the property’s value, giving you a strong starting point.
Real Estate Agencies
The second option is to work with agencies, but not in the way most people think. The real value of agencies is not just in the listings they advertise, but in the “upcoming” ones—plots that agents have already discussed with owners but haven’t yet published. If you connect with local agents early and maintain good relationships, they’ll often notify you first about new opportunities. That gives you an advantage over other buyers and a chance to close a deal before the property even hits the market.
Direct Contact with Owners
The third option is the most direct—and often the most unpredictable. If you spot a parcel that seems ideal but isn’t listed for sale, you can easily find its owner via Uređena zemlja. It’s not uncommon for land to be inherited, forgotten, or simply considered low-value by the owner. In such cases, your outreach can lead to a mutually beneficial deal: the owner gets an unexpected payout without the hassle of listing or maintenance, while you secure a plot that no one else even considered.
How I Found Orešje Okićko
Before discovering Orešje Okićko, I went through thousands of listings. The process was fully structured: I entered every potential plot into a spreadsheet with a link to the ad, status, cadastral parcel number, comments, and Google Maps location. That gave me a shortlist of 46 serious options. They ranged from Samobor and Rude to Molvice, Kladje, and Mala Rakovica. Each had its advantages and disadvantages. Some were too steep, others had no water access, some were overpriced, and a few had issues like power lines or lack of privacy.
One plot in Orešje Okićko stood out during the process. The listing didn’t look ideal—bad photos, overgrown vegetation, and a generally poor presentation—but behind all that was a view with a real wow factor. The location covered almost 9,000 square meters, and after deeper research, it became clear that it had potential other buyers might have missed.
After the purchase and additional research of the neighboring parcels, I realized that the seller owned another adjacent 3,000-square-meter plot. I seized the opportunity and bought that one too. In doing so, I combined two of the methods mentioned earlier: starting with an online listing and then using Uređena zemlja to research ownership. The result was a compact and valuable piece of land that fully justified all the time invested in research and analysis.
Mandatory checks before purchase
Once you find a plot that seems interesting, the real work begins. The first step is to check ownership and the legal status of the property on oss.uredjenazemlja.hr. There you can enter the cadastral parcel number and see who owns it, whether ownership is 1/1, and if there are any issues such as mortgages or easements. This is the basic safety check, but it helps to look deeper. See if the parcel has multiple co-owners, any registered claims or court disputes, or if the listed owner has passed away and the property is still under their name. All these things can delay or block the purchase later.
The second part of the check is getting the location information from the local office. Only then will you know if the plot is actually inside the construction zone, what can be built, and under what rules. Never trust what is written in the ad. If you buy land that is advertised as building land but isn’t, you lose money. The location information is the key document because it tells you how many square meters you can build, how many houses fit, and what your expected return can be.
My plot in Orešje Okićko was partly in a building zone and partly in an agricultural one. By reading the urban plan, I learned the minimum width, maximum allowed size, and how many buildings could realistically fit. The whole area is part of the Žumberak Nature Park, which means extra conditions about roof shape, facade, and materials. These aren’t problems but tools that help you plan the project properly.
If you have no experience, hire an architect. They can show you what is actually possible to build, what the building limits are, the allowed height, distance from borders, and materials you can use.
Also check the terrain. Look at the slope and soil quality. If the soil is weak or on a landslide, the foundation will cost much more. One day spent on a soil test is worth more than months of fixing mistakes later.
Entering negotiations and purchase
All the information you gathered earlier becomes your advantage in negotiations. I won’t go into detailed negotiation tactics because it’s a complex process with many variables, and true understanding only comes with experience. If I had to give one piece of advice, it would be to carefully analyze your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). In other words, you must always know your best alternative if the deal falls through. Once you know that, you have clear limits and can negotiate without fear.
I also never see negotiations as a big fight. They are just one part of the whole project. The real challenge comes later, when you have to finish construction, bring homes or apartments to market, and achieve a return on investment. If your capital sits idle while inflation eats away its value, the opportunity cost can be higher than a few percent difference in land price. That’s why it’s sometimes smarter to close the deal quickly and move forward instead of spending months haggling over every euro.
When I negotiated for my plot in Orešje Okićko, my goal was to gather as much information as possible about the seller. I tried to understand what mattered to her, how urgent the money was, what her plans were, and what non-financial things could make my offer more appealing. That approach gave me an edge. After a relatively short process, we agreed on a price almost half of what she originally asked for, even though it was considered “market value” at the time. It once again proved that real negotiations don’t start with price but with understanding the other side.
After signing the purchase agreement, it was necessary to pay the real estate transfer tax of 3% of the land’s market value. The Tax Administration issues a decision based on the application usually submitted by the notary, and the buyer must pay the tax within 15 days of receiving the decision. After that comes the registration of ownership in the land registry. The buyer submits a request for registration together with the notarized contract and proof of tax payment, and the property is identified by its cadastral parcel number and land registry entry. Only once the registration office processes the entry does the buyer become the official owner.
In the next post, I’ll explain what comes after purchasing land and how to avoid the most common mistakes in the early stages of project development. If you’d rather not learn through trial and error, you can register on Stake Estate and let an experienced team manage the project for you.
