Prices of flats in Ljubljana up almost 50% in five years
Ljubljana - The prices of old flats in multi-storey buildings in Ljubljana rose by 48% in the period from 2015 to 2020, after the downward price trend reversed in 2015. The median price per square metre reached nearly EUR 3,000 last year. At EUR 2,960, it was record for a third year in a row and 69% above the median price for entire Slovenia.
As Slovenia's business, administrative and university centre, the capital city has by far the most developed property market in the country, the Mapping and Surveying Authority (GURS) says in the 2020 Slovenian property market report.
In recent years, which have been marked by economic upturn and record low interest rates, demand for housing in Ljubljana has been constantly rising.
People have been buying housing in the capital for their own use, as an investment or for rent.
On the other hand, there has been a shortage of new homes, chiefly as a result of a lack of development projects in 2010-2017, GURS says.
"This quickly resulted in excessive demand for housing and a strong growth of their prices in the capital city."
The median price for flats at multi-storey buildings at national level last year reached a record EUR 1,750 per square metre, but EUR 2,960 in Ljubljana.
The highest median prices in Ljubljana were recorded in the statistical area of the city centre - at EUR 3,280 per square metre.
Poorly maintained flats sold for as low as EUR 2,000 per square metre, while two 100-square-metre flats at Villa Urbana sold at as much as EUR 6,500.
The bulk of flats were meanwhile sold at EUR 2,700 to EUR 3,800 per square metre.
New flats sold from EUR 6,800 in the city centre to EUR 2,800 in the Šiška, Črnuče and Sostro boroughs.
An average price for a new flat was meanwhile EUR 3,200 per square metre, tax included, but without a parking lot.
In the 2015-2020 period, housing prices in Ljubljana posted highest growth rates in 2016 to 2018 - that of 12-15% a year.
Housing transactions meanwhile dropped last year, mostly as a result of the epidemic after they were rising from 2015 to 2017 but them dropped a bit in 2018 and 2019.
Transactions in flats and building land in Ljubljana dropped by 20% each compared to 2019, while the drop in transactions in family houses reached 15%.