The country-wide average price for an existing flat was EUR 1,649 per square metre, down 0.4% from the second quarter and 5.1% less than in the third quarter of 2011.

In the capital the average price was EUR 2,321 per square metre, which is 3.1% less than in the previous quarter and a 7.8% drop year-on-year.

The only exception to the increasingly negative trend recorded among Slovenia's largest cities is the coastal city of Koper, where the price increased by 1.4% over the second quarter to EUR 2,387.

The year-on-year drop in Kranj was 3% (to EUR 1,660), in Maribor 3.4% (EUR 1,132) and in Celje 7% (EUR 1,214).

The average prices of office space fell by 12% in the third quarter and by 14.3% year-on-year to stand at EUR 1,210.

Farm land and forests were an exception to the negative trend, and are up slightly compared to the third quarter of 2011.

Transactions involving real estate continued to fall, GURS however said that it was too early to say whether a significant contraction is under way.

Country-wide, 1,270 apartments were sold in the third quarter (compared to 1,720 in q2 and 1,625 in q3 in 2011), 790 houses (1,041, 920), 923 building plots (1,702, 1,355), 143 business buildings (153, 162), 1,625 farm plots (2,111, 1,550), and 339 forest units (577, 466).