Croatia  followed the defined EU target methodology on agricultural land prices and rents in setting up the data collection system for agricultural land prices and rents.

The aim of these statistics is to show the price of one hectare of freeagricultural land (arable land, permanent pastures) in the reference period (calendar year).

Data are available at NUTS I  and NUTS II level.

Croatia participated in the two Land prices and rents projects:

• IPA 2009 Multi-beneficiary Statistical Co-operation Programme with the aim of establishment of Land prices and rents statistics
• Grant 2015 Project “Data collection system for agricultural land prices and rents following the common target methodology”

Project “Data collection system for agricultural land prices and rents following the common target methodology” enabled updating of the statistical system for agricultural land prices and rents in line with common methodology. During the project common methodology for Land prices and rents was changed, and the data sets were recalculated and harmonised with this changes. Method for backwards calculations was established that enabled publication of the full set of  Land prices and rents 2013-2015 data series. The new method of data collection reduced the burden of data delivery for administrative sources as well as  enabled calculations at the NUTS II level.  IT application for data collection and processing was developed, too. This application enabled data collection and data processing in a shorter period of time, which reduced resources needed for implementation of this survey.

The agricultural land rent represents the price of renting one hectare of agricultural land (arable land, permanent pastures) in the reference period (calendar year).

Data are available at NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 levels.

NUTS classification

Data are available at NUTS I and NUTS II level.

NUTS Classification

Data are available at NUTS I and NUTS II level.

Agricultural sector - In the land prices data compilation transactions with arable land and permanent grassland sold for further agricultural use were included. Transactions between relatives (also inheritance) and sales for non-agricultural purposes (lifestyle buyers, kitchen gardens, construction sites, etc.) were excluded. Excluded were also transactions with buildings on it.

The agricultural land rent represents the price of renting one hectare of agricultural land (arable land and permanent grassland)  in the reference period (calendar year). No distinction is made taking into consideration the duration of the renting.

The price of agricultural land (arable land, permanent grassland) is the price received/paid by the holder in free trade.  

Rents are the actual rent price agreed upon transactors.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Considering criteria from the EU target methodology (15.0% of irrigable arable land of the total utilised agricultural area) for Croatia it is not required to collect data on the prices of arable land to be broken down into irrigable and non-irrigable arable land, because in the Croatia the share of irrigable agricultural area is less than in the required criteria.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Prices are collected from the owner of agricultural land who is selling agricultural land for agricultural use (selling prices)  - records from Tax Administration.

Records from the Paying Agency in Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development - renting of private agriculature land

Records from Ministry of Agriculture - renting of state own land.

The price of one hectare of agricultural land (arable land/permanent grassland: meadows and pastures) sold for agricultural use is the observation unit.

For land rents the object of observation were rents for one hectare of agricultural land (arable land and/or permanent grassland) rented in Croatia for agricultural use.

For calculating average annual land prices the cut off limits were applied (minimum and maximum price) taking into account the geographic and economic diversity of the state.

For calculation of rents we use data from PAAFRD (1160 transactions) for private own land and transactions from ALA (number of transactions depends on the number of contract for renting of state own land).

NUTS II

NUTS II

2013-2019

2013-2019

The first data collection for land prices was organised in 2014 and data referred to 2013.

The first data collection for land rents was organised in 2014 and data referred to 2013.

Not applicable

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is performing its activities in line with the provisions  of the Official Statistics Act (Official Gazette, No 12/2013 – consolidated text). Its regular statistical surveys are based on the Programme of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia 2013 – 2017 (the Official Gazette No. 69/13) and the Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia, which define all the institutions that, along with the Bureau, form the system of the official statistics of the Republic of Croatia.

Land prices are collected also on the base of agreement between CBS and Tax administration.

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is performing its activities in line with the provisions  of the Official Statistics Act (Official Gazette, No 12/2013 – consolidated text). Its regular statistical surveys are based on the Programme of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia 2013 – 2017 (the Official Gazette No. 69/13) and the Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia, which define all the institutions that, along with the Bureau, form the system of the official statistics of the Republic of Croatia.

Land rents are collected on the base of agreement between Croatian Bureau of  Statistics (CBS) and Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (PAAFRD) and  Ministry of Agriculture.

CBS publishes data according to the Release Date announced in the Publishing Programme and in the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues. Data transmission before  the national disclosure is not possible.  Also, in cases of the small number of responses some data were considered as confidential /not available data (e.g. data at NUTS II level for Land prices 2013-2014 were not published; in the meantime CBS recalculated these data and these data were published).

CBS publishes data according to the Release Date announced in the Publishing Programme and in the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues. Data transmission before  the national disclosure is not possible. Also, in cases of the small number of responses some data are considered as confidential /not available data.

CBS started with the Land prices and rents data collection because of the EU requirements. Now we have also the national users.

The same answer as for Land prices.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Data for previous year are available at the end of September in current year.

Data for previous year are available at the middle of December of current year.

Data are released at the end of September every year.

Data are released at the middle of December every year.

The Republic of Croatia is divided into two statistical regions that are climatically significantly different. This difference affects to the type of agricultural production, and the price of agricultural land.

The Republic of Croatia is divided into two statistical regions that are climatically significantly different. This difference affects to the type of agricultural production, and the rents of agricultural land.

CBS could not deliver any Land prices and rents data for the period 2011-2012.

Land prices and rents (LPR) data were, for the first time, sent to Eurostat in 2014 and data referred at 2013. Data for 2013-2014 were published in a limited form. Due to the small number of responses some data were considered as confidential /not available data (data on NUTS II level).

In order to improve data collection system  Croatia was participating in the Eurostat grant for 2015, project „Data collection system for agricultural land prices and rents following the common target methodology“. In the frame of project data collection and processing was improved. Data 2013-2015 were revised. For data from 2013 and 2014, the back casting method was used according to the consumer price index of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, with 2015 as the base year. The data obtained at the regional level were then recalculated according to the new methodology (Common  methodology for Land Prices and Rents which had been established at a meeting of the Working Group on Agricultural Accounts and Prices was published in February 2017 in Annex 1 of document ASA/AAP/133 - CIRCABC (registration needed to enter into CircaBc).

Data for 2015 were recalculated and revised according to the new methodology. 

The new data sets 2013-2019 as  were transmitted to Eurostat. 

The comparability over time can be considered as good.

See explanation for Land price.

Data are collected from administrative sources.

The data on the prices of sold agricultural land were obtained from the records of real estate transactions of the Tax Administration of the Ministry of Finance (TA). 

In 2015, TA has changed the content of the form of sale of real estate. They included a question about the categories of agricultural land, as well as on the future land use (whether it is intended for agricultural production or not). Consequently, TA has information about the areas and the value of sold agricultural land for agricultural purposes for requested categories of agricultural land.  CBS took over data, for the first time, for 2015.

Data are collected from administrative sources.

There are two data sources for data collection of rents:

- Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development for renting of private own land

PAAFRD delivers transactions for private agricultural land to the CBS. Rents are based on the statements of farmers when they are applying for subsidies in local PAAFRD office. Farmers give this information on voluntary base. 

- Ministry of Agriculture for renting of state own land

Ministry of Agriculture has information on the lease of required categories of agricultural land (area and value) for state owned agricultural land. In the Republic of Croatia two different types of ownership of land exists: private owned agricultural land and state-owned agricultural land. The lease of  state-owned agricultural land is regulated by the agricultural land law.

Data collection from TA started in 2015, and it was on the quarterly base. In 2016 TA delivered data at annually base.

For 2013 data source for Land prices and rents was PAAFRD that delivered data at  monthly base.

For 2014 data sources were PAAFRD and Ministry of Agriculture, PAAFRD transmitted data to CBS at monthly base, while Ministry of Agriculture transmitted data at annually base.

PAAFRD delivered data for 2013-2015 on monthly base. For 2016 and onwards they deliver data on annual base.

Ministry of Agriculture delivers data annually (2014 and onwards).

Administrative data sources use.

Tax Administration (TA) data for calculation of Land prices 2015-2016.

For 2013 data were collected in branch offices of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development according to the farmers’ statements when updating the data on the use of agricultural land on agricultural holdings.

For 2014 the data were collected from PAAFRD and in the records of the Ministry of Agriculture.

For 2016 and onwards data are collected only from TA.

Administrative data sources use.

For 2013 data were collected in branch offices of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (PAAFRD) according to the farmers’ statements when updating the data on the use of agricultural land on agricultural holdings.

For 2014 - 2015 the data were collected from PAAFRD and in the records of the Ministry of Agriculture.

For 2016 and onwards PAAFRD delivered data for renting of private own land and Ministry of Agriculture will deliver data for renting of state own land.

TA transmitted to CBS  a a lot of  real estate transaction, e.g. for 2015 we got 13000 transactions  (purchase/sale) of agricultural land for 2015. In the first phase, in order to ensure that in calculations of land prices are included only transactions of agricultural land intended for agricultural production, we merged these transactions with the Farm Register in the CBS. In the Farm register, all data is individual recorded with the up to 8-digit MIBPG individual farm code. They also have personal identification number (OIB), from which we can merge data with Tax Administration. We have been found 8 808 matches. Conclusion was that CBS would use only these transactions for calculation of land prices. In the second phase, by the analysis we identified also extreme prices. So we put limits (minimum and maximum price). Based on our experience, these limits are the most logical choice taking into account the geographic and economic diversity of the state.. The cut off limits were applied, and there were 505 transactions(5,8%) that were excluded by these limits.

The cut off for rents was not applied since the aggregated data of two agencies was of good quality.

Prices for arable land, meadows and pastures at the county level are obtained through the value and the area in the transactions recorded in the Tax Administration within the calendar year. 

For calculating the rent of agricultural land, the CBS uses administrative data of PAAFRD for private agricultural land and Ministry of Agriculture data for state agricultural land.

The data for the calculation of the rents were obtained by summing up area and values of the Paying Agency and Ministry of Agriculture.

Prices on county level are calculated by a weighted arithmetic mean, where the area in transactions serves as the weight.

Prices at regional (NUTS II) and state level (NUTS I) are calculated by a weighted arithmetic mean, where the area from the FSS was used as the weight.

Rents on county level are calculated by a weighted arithmetic mean, where the area in transactions serves as the weight.

Rents at regional (NUTS II) and state level (NUTS I) are calculated by a weighted arithmetic mean, where the area rented from the FSS was used as the weight.

CBS calculates prices of meadows and pastures separately.

For the purposes of reporting to Eurostat, these data are recalculated in accordance with the definition of permanent pastures.
The prices of certain categories of land are weighed with appropriate areas from the FSS.

CBS calculates prices of meadows and pastures separately.

For the purposes of reporting to Eurostat, these data are recalculated in accordance with the definition of permanent pastures. The prices of rent of certain categories of land are weighed with areas of rented agricultural land from the FSS.