How much does it cost to rent a flat in Zagreb?

What you pay

The monthly rent is only part of the cost. Before you sign, add up what you pay once, when you move in, and what you pay every month.

• Every month: the rent and the bills the lease puts on you, such as electricity, gas or heating, water, waste collection, internet and the HRT licence feeHRT licence fee (HRT pristojba)The monthly fee for public television and radio. A household with a radio or TV pays one fee, however many sets it has, on HRT's own bill.Source: HRT: Pristojba, checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary.
• Once, on moving in: the first month's rent, a depositDeposit (polog)simplifiedMoney the tenant pays as security for unpaid rent, bills or damage, and gets back at the end of the lease. The lease sets the amount and when it's returned.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3. i 17., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary if the lease asks for one, and an agency feeAgency fee (agencijska provizija)simplifiedThe fee for an agency's brokerage. Only someone who has signed a written brokerage contract with the agency pays it, as a rule once the lease is signed.Source: Zakon o posredovanju u prometu nekretnina (NN 69/2026), čl. 23., 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary if you signed a contract with an agency.
• Sometimes: having the lease certified by a notary, moving the bills into your name, connecting the internet and the move itself.

The Zakon o najmu stanova (the Housing Lease Act) requires a lease to state the rent and how it's paid, and the types of living costs you pay and how. If any of that is missing from your lease, ask for it to be added before you sign.

The rent: asking prices from listings

The table shows the median asking rent for flats in Zagreb by number of rooms, and the median price per square metre. We calculate them from the active listings on NajamStanova.com, and the table updates itself.

The median is the middle value: half the listings ask less and half ask more, so a few very expensive or very cheap flats affect it less than an average. These are the prices advertisers ask, not the rents finally agreed, and the table doesn't show whether bills are included.

The price per m² helps when you compare flats of different sizes. For a single flat, look at the price bar on the listing: it shows how its price compares with the asking prices of similar flats in the neighbourhood or district. Every flat on offer is in our list of flats to rent in Zagreb.

On the open market, the rent is whatever you agree with the landlord. In an open-ended lease, the law doesn't allow the agreed rent to change within the first year. After that, either side can propose a new rent in writing, up to 20% above the average freely agreed rentRent (najamnina)simplifiedWhat the tenant pays the landlord for the use of the flat. In market leases it's agreed freely; the lease and the law limit changes during the tenancy.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3., 6., 9. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary for a comparable flat in the same town or county. The Act sets no such rule for fixed-term leases, so the lease decides.

What lies behind Eurostat's figure of a 22% rise in Croatian rents is explained in our story Did Croatian rents rise 22%?.

Average rent in Zagreb by year

What rents are actually agreed is published by the City of Zagreb in its yearly property market report (Izvješće o tržištu nekretnina). The average comes from registered flat leases entered in the official price register (Zbirka kupoprodajnih cijena), as an area-weighted mean: the total of the agreed monthly rents divided by the total floor area of the flats. In the report smaller flats cost more per m² (€17.13 for 15–24 m², and between €11.72 and €12.49 from 60 m² up), and larger flats weigh more in an area-weighted mean.

Average agreed monthly rent per m², flats, City of Zagreb:

• 2013: €5.60 per m²
• 2014: €5.78 per m²
• 2015: €5.91 per m²
• 2016: €5.06 per m²
• 2017: €6.18 per m²
• 2018: €6.31 per m²
• 2019: €7.22 per m²
• 2020: €7.21 per m²
• 2021: €7.84 per m²
• 2022: €8.71 per m²
• 2023: €9.88 per m²
• 2024: €11.29 per m²
• 2025: €12.82 per m²

Source: City of Zagreb, property market report for 2025, section 5.3.1. Area-weighted mean of registered leases entered in the price register. The City warns that the trends should be read with caution because the sample is small. From 2015 to 2025 the average agreed rent per m² more than doubled (€5.91 → €12.82).

For 2025 the average is based on 3,525 flat leases, roughly one in eight of the 28,873 leases registered that year, and for 2024 on 1,748. The City says the rise in registered leases in 2025 was probably caused by the introduction of the property taxProperty tax (porez na nekretnine)simplifiedA yearly local tax per m² of useful floor area on homes not used for permanent living. In Zagreb it's €8 per m² from 1 January 2027 (€5 in 2026).Source: Zakon o lokalnim porezima (NN 115/16 … 152/24), čl. 26., 27. i 49., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary.

The Croatian property market review 2025 (Pregled tržišta nekretnina), prepared by the Institute of Economics, Zagreb for the Ministry of Physical Planning, gives a median of €12.8 and an arithmetic mean of €13.3 per m² a month for Zagreb flat leases registered in 2025 (3,341 leases). That's a different measure from a different data extract, so it doesn't match the City's area-weighted mean. According to the review, 11.2% of the 30,972 leases registered in Zagreb in 2025 were entered in the price register.

Agreed rents and listing prices aren't the same measure: one is written into registered leases, the other is what's asked for flats on offer now. The official sources don't explain the difference. Today's asking rents from active listings, by rooms and per m², are in the table above.

Prices by neighbourhood

Asking rents differ from one neighbourhood to the next. On our neighbourhoods page we show, for each neighbourhood with enough listings, the median asking rent, the price per m² and the number of active listings, along with its trams and distance from the centre. Neighbourhoods with too few listings appear without prices.

Compare like with like: the same size and number of rooms, furnishedFurnished flat (namješten stan)A flat let with furniture. The law doesn't say what a furnished or partly furnished flat must contain, so the listing and the lease spell it out.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 5. i 12., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary with furnished. If a listing asks much less than similar flats in the same neighbourhood, check it before you pay anything: see the flat in person and check who owns it.

Bills: what the listing and the lease say

Bills (režijeUtilities (režije)Housing costs on top of rent: electricity, gas or heating, water, waste, the reserve fund, the HRT licence fee and internet. The lease decides which the tenant pays.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 5., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary) are the monthly running costs on top of the rent. The law doesn't decide which of them the tenant pays: the lease does. On NajamStanova.com, the price on each listing carries one of these labels:

• “utilities included”: the rent covers the costs the listing, and then the lease, names. Check exactly which, for example whether electricity and heating are both in.
• “+ utilities”: you pay them separately, by the bills. If the advertiser has estimated the amount, we show their estimate too.
• “utilities not stated”: the listing says nothing about them. Ask the advertiser before the viewing.

Before you sign, ask to see the bills for the last 12 months, so you see both winter and summer. Some costs fall on the owner by law: the building's reserve fund (pričuva)Reserve fund (pričuva)simplifiedMoney the co-owners pay each month to maintain the building's common parts and run it. The flat's owner owes it to the building, not the tenant.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary is paid by the co-owners, and the communal fee (komunalna naknada)Communal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary by the owner unless a written contract passes it to the occupant.

How electricity, gas, heating, water, waste collection and the HRT licence feeHRT licence fee (HRT pristojba)The monthly fee for public television and radio. A household with a radio or TV pays one fee, however many sets it has, on HRT's own bill.Source: HRT: Pristojba, checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary are calculated, with the official prices, is in our guide to utilities in Zagreb.

What transport and the rest add on top of rent and bills is in our guide to the cost of living in Zagreb.

The deposit

The Housing Lease Act doesn't mention a depositDeposit (polog)simplifiedMoney the tenant pays as security for unpaid rent, bills or damage, and gets back at the end of the lease. The lease sets the amount and when it's returned.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3. i 17., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: it sets no amount and no cap, so the deposit is whatever you agree. Separately from any deposit, the Act gives the landlord a lien on the belongings you bring into the flat, for unpaid rent and damage.

• Write the amount into the lease, with when it's returned and what may be deducted.
• Pay it by bank transfer or against a written receipt.
• When you move in, sign a record of the flat's condition, ideally with photos. The Act requires one at handover, and at move-out it makes agreeing on the deposit easier.

Under the draft new Housing Lease Act, which the Government put to public consultation on 31 July 2026, the deposit would be one month's rent unless the lease says otherwise. It hasn't been passed, so this guide describes the Act in force.

Agency fees since July 2026

A new Real Estate Brokerage Act (Zakon o posredovanju u prometu nekretnina, NN 69/2026) has applied since 7 July 2026. Only someone who has signed a written brokerage contract with the agency pays its fee.

• No contract, no fee: an agency can't charge a tenant who hasn't signed a brokerage contract with it.
• It can't make a viewing depend on you signing one first. Signing a viewing confirmation isn't a brokerage contract and doesn't oblige you to pay.
• The agency earns its fee only once the lease it brokered is signed, unless a pre-contract was agreed as the trigger. It can't ask for any part of the fee in advance.
• The amount is set by the brokerage contract, which must state the fee and any extra costs; the agency's dated price list is part of it. The law sets no cap. If the agency works for both sides, it must tell you each fee and their total in writing before you sign.
• If the agency has contracts with both the landlord and you and you both pay, the total can't exceed the highest fee in its price list. If only one side is to pay, it may charge that side at most half the price-list fee.

On NajamStanova.com you can show only listings with no agency fee. Where a listing doesn't mention a fee, we show “not stated”, never zero.

Moving-in costs

Expect the first month to cost more than the ones after it. In order:

1. 1The first month's rent, by the date the lease sets.
2. 2The depositDeposit (polog)simplifiedMoney the tenant pays as security for unpaid rent, bills or damage, and gets back at the end of the lease. The lease sets the amount and when it's returned.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3. i 17., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, if the lease asks for one, and the agency feeAgency fee (agencijska provizija)simplifiedThe fee for an agency's brokerage. Only someone who has signed a written brokerage contract with the agency pays it, as a rule once the lease is signed.Source: Zakon o posredovanju u prometu nekretnina (NN 69/2026), čl. 23., 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, if you signed a brokerage contract.
3. 3Certifying the lease, if you need it: foreign nationals registering their address, for example, may need a lease certified by a notary or by Porezna uprava (the Tax Administration). A notary's fee is set by the official notarial tariff, and for drawing up a notarial deed it rises with the value of the contract. Ask for the price first, and agree with the landlord who pays it.
4. 4Moving the bills into your name. The electricity grid contract is temporarily transferred to you on HEP ODS's form 8 (Zahtjev 8), which goes to the supplier. For the other bills, agree with the landlord whether they'll be in your name or you'll repay them.
5. 5Internet: the connection and subscription, at your provider's prices.
6. 6The move, and anything the flat lacks if it isn't furnishedFurnished flat (namješten stan)A flat let with furniture. The law doesn't say what a furnished or partly furnished flat must contain, so the listing and the lease spell it out.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 5. i 12., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary.

New listings arrive every day: save a search to hear when a flat in your range appears.

Whether buying beats renting, work out with Rent or buy?; how big a studioStudio flat (garsonijera)A flat where living, sleeping and cooking share one room, with a separate bathroom. Often spelled garsonjera.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, a one-room and a two-room flatTwo-room flat (dvosoban stan)A flat with two rooms, usually a living room and one bedroom. In Croatian listings the room count isn't the number of bedrooms.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary are, and what they cost, is in our size comparison.

Frequently asked questions