Personal roof over one's head is almost everyone's goal, and which one to choose – buying or renting, is a perpetual dilemma. Here's what the experts say and what the calculations show. A graduate journalist, Saša Živković, has been living in Zagreb as a subtenant for four years. The amount of money he has spent so far on rent is not small. ‘‘When I calculate it, I see that I have spent over 10,000 euros in these four years on rent,’’ he says. ‘‘My biggest problem is that I have to rely on the landlord for any changes I want to make to the apartment, and it depends on whether they are willing to invest or renovate. It's not your own place, so you can't arrange it according to your preferences,’’ Živković explains. Moving to a new place with a set of keys at more favorable terms than the market rate is made possible by a housing incentives program. Our conversation partner, Sandra Bokan, and her family have been living in one such POS apartment for years. Her family has 16 years of subtenancy experience. ‘‘We're satisfied with the construction, we're even more than satisfied, we have no complaints except for a bit of a floorboard. The rent is acceptable,’’ she says. According to a market expert from the Faculty of Economics, Josip Tica, from a purely financial point of view, it is generally cheaper to rent: ‘‘When you add the cost of the apartments and the amount you'll spend on a credit card and the amount you'll repay in interest to pay off the credit, the financial cost of buying a house is much higher,’’ Tica explains. However, Boro Vujović, deputy president of the Association of Real Estate Business at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, says that currently, with interest rates below 4%, a house is more profitable to buy: ‘‘The credit repayment is almost equal to the rental income. Of course, it's also important what you're buying. If you overpay for the property, it's not worth it. But if you buy it at a normal market price, it's better to buy,’’ Vujović says. The average calculation for a 50-square-meter apartment in Zagreb shows that a 30-year credit repayment would amount to around 500 euros per month, according to Vujović. ‘‘All those coastal towns where tourism is developed, prices are high for both buying and renting,’’ Vujović points out, adding that history has shown that property prices tend to rise in the long term. Something that is bought for a certain price today can almost certainly be worth more in 10 or 20 years. Source: totalinfo.hr

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