Funnily enough, just yesterday I had a chat with a partner of mine in Istria. Things are getting to that point now where everyone is trying to sell their land - and no buyers. I know some superb plots that were selling at 60-70eur last January, now they cant sell it for 40.

It all got hyped-up with Golemovic and Istrian Experience 2 yrs ago, but now there are 700 villas in the pipeline that already got the permit, everyone wants 400-500k euro per unit, and Istrian Experience went bust. They were up for sale for 1euro (plus all the debts).

Land prices were just going up for min 50% per year for past 3-4 yrs, now it finally came to the point where it reached its peak, and in one sense, now it might be a good opportunity to pick up some good plots and sit on them for a while. Prices will pick up once the planing laws are sorted and we start seeing some progress on golf courses. There must be quite some distressed sellers out there now. I have seen how local 'developers' were buying everything and anything, with no due dilligance, and I'm sure that now they are feeling the pressure of loan repayments. For example, there is a fantastic plot near Motovun that I was looking at some time ago. Around 5000m2 plus possibly additional 5000m2. Stunning views, 7 mins drive from Motovun. I'm sure one could pick it up for 30euro now, which is a bargain. If the Motovun golf course and polo course get go ahead, it will easily double in price and there will be demand again.

Also, I just got to know about some government scheme where they started giving good finance for renovation of old stone houses along the cost. You will need to keep within the present outline, but you don't need planing and you can gear your finance very well. If that is packaged nicely, it could be something worthwhile looking at. You are still looking only at small time investors that really like Croatia - the profits will hardly attract serious investors.