We see some nice properties here, and can get a little jaded, but when we saw the pictures for this five bedroom villa in Most Na Soči, by the confluence of the Soča and Idrijca rivers in one of the most beautiful areas of the country, we began day-dreaming of a new life outside the capital.

In addition to the views of both the Soča river and Julian Alps, and the opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors in all four seasons, this property offers five bedrooms, four en suite, along with a sauna. It also sits on 35,000m2 of private land, just under five soccer pitches, with fruit trees and a vegetable garden. To make being outdoors even more enjoyable there’s a barbecue area and what’s said to be one of the few swimming pools in the Soča Valley. Fully renovated in 2007, the place is being sold with many items of quality antique furniture, and is currently on the market for €715,000, with more details of this and other properties at beverywhere.com

STA, 1 July 219 - A bill to limit commission fees for renting real estate and other costs which real estate agencies can charge their clients, was endorsed at committee level on Monday, although MPs from left and right were reserved about limiting "business initiative". The cabinet supports the opposition-sponsored bill, but realtors are outraged.

The Left, which supports the minority government, filed the changes to the law on real estate agencies in June to improve the status of tenants but also landlords.

Under the changes, landlords would fully pay the commission fee charged by a real estate agency for a service commissioned by them.

This means tenants would no longer shoulder part of the fee, which the Left deems fair, since they have to pay a down payment and the rent.

A cap would also be imposed on the commission fee that can be charged by apartment rental agencies to landlords. The capped amount would correspond to one monthly rent, but would not go lower than 150 euro.

The Left believes tenants in apartments rented out at market prices should benefit the most since they will no longer have to pay commission fees for the services they have not commissioned and since landlords would be encouraged to rent out their apartments for longer periods.

The bill also introduce EU rules in acquiring qualifications for a real estate agent. As Left leader Luka Mesec told the Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning Committee, Slovenia had already received a warning about a delay from the European Commission.

State Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning Aleš Prijon said the bill was in line with the government's housing policy, especially in that it protected tenants.

A similar view was expressed by the Consumer Protection Association, whose Jana Turk said it improved consumer protection in the rental market.

On the other hand, representatives of real estate agents find it unimaginable that anyone would limit the price of a service available on the free market.

Boštjan Udovič from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) said there was enough competition on the market and citizens were obliged to use this service.

He said that less than 50% of the deals were made through real estate agents, which showed tenants were not forced to shoulder the commission fee for the service.

If the bill is passed, the GZS's chamber of real estate business will report Slovenia to the European Commission and probably ask the Constitutional Court to review it, he announced.

All our stories on real estate are here

STA, 21 June 2019 - Slovenian home prices grew at an average rate of 0.8% in the first quarter of the year and were up 8.9% on the year before, a sign that rapid price growth is slowing but at a very sluggish pace, show Statistics Office data released on Friday.

The rates are lower than in previous quarters, when annual prices grew at double-digit rates, as the shortage of housing that has lasted for years after the crisis slowly eases with the arrival of new developments on the market.

The prices of second-hand homes, which account for the vast majority of all transactions, rose by 0.9% over the previous quarter and by 9.9% annually.

Used flats were up 8.9% annually and 1.3% at the quarterly level, while houses were almost a percent cheaper than in the previous quarter, even as their prices surged by 12.4% annually.

The prices of new homes, meanwhile, rose by 6.9% at the annual level and declined by 1% over the previous quarter.

Apartments were 9% more expensive than in the previous quarter, but the prices declined by half a percent year-on-year. House prices were up 3.3% over the previous quarter and a percent more expensive than in the same period last year.

All our stories on real estate in Slovenia are here, while our propert of the week stories are here

STA, 12 June 2019 - In a bid to improve the status of tenants but also landlords, the opposition Left (Levica) has filed a bill to limit commissions for renting real estate and costs which real estate agencies can charge to their clients.

The changes to the law on real estate agencies, which bring commission limits similar to those in place for real estate sales, were submitted to parliament on Wednesday, the Left said in today's press release.

Tenants would no longer have to pay commissions for services provided by a real estate agency which was hired by the landlord.

Landlords would benefit from a cap on commissions that can be charged by apartment rental agencies; the capped amount would correspond to one monthly rent, but would not go lower than 150 euro.

The Left believes tenants in apartments rented out at market prices should benefit the most since they will no longer have to pay commission for the services they have not commissioned and since landlords would be encouraged to rent out their apartments for longer periods.

MP Matej T. Vatovec said the bill was harmonised with the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and endorsed by coalition representatives, so the Left expected it to be passed in parliament.

However, even if such changes are set down in a deal between the government coalition and the opposition party which supports the government, coalition MPs did not contribute their signatures.

"The coalition's decision to support the bill or not [in parliament] will show whether it is serious about cooperation with the Left, and will also serve as the basis to decide how to proceed cooperation-wise," Vatovec was quoted in the release as saying.

STA, 13 May 2019 - The National Assembly passed on Monday legislative changes delaying the next round of mass property appraisal for about a year. Under the government-proposed changes, the appraisal will be completed by the end of March 2020 and not the end of July 2019, as initially planned.

The delay was deemed necessary by the government to allow more time to find consensus about what sort of appraisal model to use in the future.

To allow the extension and prolong the validity of the current system, the government drafted changes to the act on mass appraisal of real estate and the real estate records act, with the National Assembly passing them today.

Slovenia introduced the real estate appraisal system in 2006. After the Constitutional Court raised an issue with parts of the legislation in 2013, it was amended at the beginning of 2018.

The changes define the system more closely and stipulate ways in which the values can be used for tax purposes. The changes also allow the public to participate in the creation of valuation models and allow appeals by owners.

Finance Ministry State Secretary Natalija Kovač Jereb told the MPs before the vote that the government wanted to reach a high level of acceptance of mass appraisal and want to dedicate more time talking to experts and municipalities.

In autumn, a trial appraisal will be conducted and appraisal models will be presented and the final models will take into account the comments from the public.

Coalition parties supported the delay, while the opposition, including the minority government's partner, the Left, expressed disagreement with the delay.

The Democrats (SDS) said that the government had not presented sufficient concrete reasons for the delay, adding that the original legislation must have been drafted poorly.

All our stories on property in Slovenia are here

STA, 6 May 2019 - The newspaper Finance writes about the booming property market in Slovenia's capital in Monday's editorial, finding that nothing can hurt the demand or growing property prices.

Under the headline “Ljubljana Realtors in a Hurry”, the paper quotes real estate agents, property developers and individuals selling flats, all of whom report brisk trading.

One of them says that many new apartments will hit the market next year, which could bring down the prices.

"The prices of those flats are mostly not known yet. The price list of one of the projects, aiming for average purchasing power buyers, indicates that a rationally designed apartment will cost between EUR 3,100 and 3,500 per square metre, including the appertaining parking lots and pantry space (...)”

"High-end apartments in best locations will come at much over five grand. The sale of such apartments is not questionable today. At the moment it appears that by the end of the year, the average home price per square metre will exceed last year's average of EUR 2,770.

"The demand, transactions and price growth cannot be hurt either by projections of an economic downturn or by the increased supply that will hit the market next year," writes the paper.

STA, 16 April 2019 - Slovenia's capital Ljubljana is short of some 4,000 non-profit homes for rent and will not be able to meet the demand on its own, the boss of the municipal housing fund, Sašo Rink, told the city council as it debated the issue on Monday.

With a population of some 280,000, Ljubljana is the largest city in Slovenia and demand for flats, new and second-hand ones, is huge, and so are the prices.

National statistics show that housing prices in Slovenia rose by 18.2% in 2018, although they have not yet exceeded the pre-crisis levels at national level.

However, Ljubljana is different. A recent report said a square metre of a second-hand flat costs almost 2,800 euro on average, or roughly as much as in 2008.

From 2008 to 2015, the prices of second-hand homes in Ljubljana slowly fell by 30%, but then they quickly rose by 35% in the next three years, Finance said.

Rink said Ljubljana's Public Housing Fund would not be able to effectively solve the situation if the state does not provide a systemic source of funds for public homes for rent.

City councillor Marko Koprivec of the Social Democrats (SD) agreed the issue should be addressed at the national level.

"Leaving the housing policy to the market when people are being pushed into an utterly inconvenient situation should stop," he stressed.

The city council also endorsed the city's 2019-2022 housing programme, which shows the housing fund had 14 projects in various stages of development at the end of 2018.

The projects which have a detailed timeline are to provide 1,094 flats, while a total of 1,500 are to be built when all the planned projects are implemented.

The city council also backed the fund's changed budget for 2019, cutting revenue to 21.9 million euro due to lower borrowing and raising expenditure to 25.8 million.

All our stories on real estate in Slovenia can be found here, while our "property of the week" feature is here

STA, 25 March 2019 - Prices of residential properties in Slovenia rose by 18.2% last year, driven by a 19.8% growth in the prices of second-hand homes, according to a report by the Statistics Office.

The number of transactions decreased by 14% from the 2017 peak to 9,421 in 2018. The number of transactions in new apartments remained low for the second year running.

In the final quarter of 2018, prices of existing family houses increased the most, by as much as 38.6% compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Prices of existing apartments in areas outside Ljubljana were up by 12.6% year-on-year, while Ljubljana saw an 8% growth.

Prices of new family houses and new flats were also up year-on-year in the final quarter of 2018, by 5.2% and 3.3%, respectively, with prices of both types of new homes rising by 3.7%.

Despite the volatility in prices of new apartments, the prices increased by 23.9% since 2015.

The final quarter saw only 38 new flats sold, which is a record low. The number of new family houses sold remained low as well, but at 24, this was the highest figure last year.

Compared to the third quarter, prices of existing homes - flats and houses - rose by 6.9% with prices of flats up by 4.1% and prices of houses increasing by 11.9%.

As many as 1,757 transactions in existing homes were recorded in the final quarter of 2018, which compares to only 632 involving newly built homes.

More detailed data can be found here, while all our real estate stories are here

STA, 15 March 2019 - The Slovenian housing market showed signs of a slowdown in 2018 after a recovery that started in 2015. The number of real estate deals was down by around 10% last year compared to 2017 and their total value by 5%. Prices however continued rising, in particular in the capital, shows the annual report of the Mapping and Surveying Authority (GURS).

While the number of deals decreased for all types of real estate, the contraction was the biggest for apartments, especially in Ljubljana and its surroundings.

GURS argues that the decrease, coming despite rising demand, is the result of a lack of new construction and of the strong price growth in the last three years.

Demand continued to be fuelled by favourable socio-economic circumstances - especially low interest rates, access to loans, economic growth, new jobs and rising wages - and is gradually also encouraging a new housing investment and construction cycle around the country.

The new cycle first began in Ljubljana and on the coast, where demand is also strongest, but it failed to keep up with demand last year. According to GURS, a noteworthy amount of new apartments can only be expected on the market from the second half of this year onwards.

While turnover decreased, prices continued rising. The prices of used apartments were up by 10% on average at the level of the entire country compared to 2017 and by 22% compared to 2015 when the market bottomed out.

Prices rose the most in the first half of 2018 and stagnated in the second half of the year before rising again slightly at the end.

The prices of houses, which have been rising more slowly than those of apartments after 2015, were up by 8% in 2018 but saw a downward trend in the second half of the year.

Despite strong growth in the past three years, apartment prices remain below the record figures of 2008. Ljubljana is an exception here, having experienced by far the highest growth.

The business property market saw turnover decrease by around 10%, while a slight contraction was also recorded for the building plots market despite strong demand - GURS highlighted a notable increase in prices as a reason.

Farmland experienced a marked drop in the number of deals after a record year in 2017 and prices decreased slightly. The number of deals in forest land was also down, but prices increased a little.

The full report, in Slovenian, can be found here, all our stories about real estate are here, while some examples of properties for sale in the country are here

STA, 25 February 2019 - As tourism in the capital is booming and the city is venturing into congress tourism, investors are looking for ways to meet the demands of the market. The latest such project is a new luxury hotel to be built very close to the city centre.

The construction of the hotel, which will be located near the headquarters of the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija in Kolodvorska Street, is expected to start before summer.

The investor, the company Clippus, has estimated the project at EUR 8m.

The approximate locaton of the new hotel

The Neuhaus Kolodvorska building with big glass windows and green terraces will feature 49 hotel rooms and seven luxury apartments.

The seven-storey building will also boast an outdoor pool, a protected parking lot and basement.

See images of the planned hotel, and learn more about it (in Slovene) here

Being close to the city centre, it will offer a view of Ljubljana Castle, a landmark of the capital, said Peter Cesar of the architectural studio Arhitektura 2211, which is designing the building together with the Kosi studio and other partners.

According to Cesar, this will be the first building in Ljubljana where owners or users of apartments will be able to use hotel services such as a 24-hour reception, security, cleaning and maintenance and a restaurant.

Buyers of the apartments will also be able to rent them out as part of the hotel.

The builder Kolektor Koling plans to finish the project at the end of 2020.

The hotel is to be run by Clippus, which has been founded by Iztok Lampič, who runs one of the biggest land surveying companies in Slovenia, Gekom, and Cesar.

The apartments have not been put up for sale yet.