Real-estate prices will be lower in first quarter of 2009

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Croatian experts expect real-estate prices to fall in the first quarter of 2009.If prices continue to fall after the end of the quarter, the experts say, they could be down 10-to-12 per cent by the end of the year, according to the "CentarNekretnina.net" real-estate website.The website said real-estate prices had fallen by 0.5 per cent in January in Zagreb, compared to December 2008.Prices on the Adriatic coast were the same in January as in December but up by 4.9 per cent from a year earlier.Prices in Croatia as a whole were up by 1.6 per cent in January from the same month in 2008.
Research that surveyed 150,000 prices for real estate in Croatia showed the average price of a flat in January was 1,994 Euros per square metre in Zagreb and 2,281 Euros per square metre on the Adriatic coast.he average price of a house on the Adriatic coast was 1,577 Euros per square metre, down by 0.7 per cent compared to December 2008.The experts say higher interest rates, fewer real-estate loans by banks and stricter loan conditions will be responsible for declines in real-estate prices that occur this year.