STA, 29 May 2020 - The total value of real estate transactions in Slovenia reached a record level last year, estimated at EUR 2.7 billion, as prices continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in 2018, shows a report from the Surveying and Mapping Authority (GURS).
GURS, which notes that the record amount should be attributed to several sell-and-lease-back contracts for shopping centres, says in the report that real estate prices exceeded the previous peak in 2008.
According to preliminary data, around 35,500 transactions were recorded last year with their total value approaching EUR 2.7 billion. It is expected that the final number will exceed 36,000 and their total value to stand at EUR 2.7 billion.
This will be the highest annual amount since real estate transactions started to be systematically recorded in 2007.
"Compared to 2015, the number of transactions with real estate was up by more than 20%, while their total value increased by almost 60%," shows the 2019 report.
The record value is attributed to a steep rise in the value of transactions with commercial real estate, which exceeded half a billion euro. Its share in the total value, which usually stands around 10%, was up to more than 20%.
The value of transactions involving residential real estate was up by 10% compared to 2018 to EUR 1.59 billion, of which transactions with apartments amounted to EUR 951 million. The number of transactions was up by 1% to around 10,750.
The number of transactions with second-hand apartments was up by 1.5% to 10,160, while the number of new apartments sold was down by a third to 600. This is well below the annual average for the 2015-2017 period of more than 1,000.
"The number of new apartments which entered the market in 2019 was not even close to sufficient, and a majority of new apartments which will satisfy the demand is expected to built by the end of 2021," the report adds.
Growth of the prices of second-hand apartments slowed down last year, with the average price per square metre standing at EUR 1,850, which is nevertheless 5% more than in 2018, and 28% more than in 2015, when the trend reversed.
In Ljubljana, where the prices of apartments were the highest for the last three years, exceeding the previous peak in 2018, the average price of a square metre in a second-hand apartment was EUR 2,800, up 1% year-on-year.
The average price of a house was EUR 128,000, or 3% less than in 2018 and 19% more than in 2015. Considering the features of houses sold, GURS has estimated that their prices at the national level have increased by 15-20% since 2015.
GURS notes that this year, the real estate market will be significantly affected by the coronavirus epidemic, during which "transaction stopped and it is clear that the 2019 trends are history."
