Slovenia’s real estate market has rebounded since the housing bubble a few years ago. The credit crunch has abated, but after a brief spike in real estate sales in 2016, home owners in the coastal region are again reluctant to list their properties for sale. Few properties have been sold in 2017, mostly because home owners hope their properties could fetch higher prices in the future.

Housing prices in the coastal region have reached pre-crisis levels. Home owners have ramped up asking prices to record levels, leaving potential buyers frustrated.

An entrepreneur from Italy who lives with his family in a rented home said that he’s been trying to buy a property for a year and a half: "Finding the right home is difficult. Supply is low and prices are high in this region, so I have trouble finding the right home for me."

Property sales drop by almost 75% year-on-year
Real estate brokers estimate that residential property prices increased by 2 to 5 percent in 2016. Property sales have taken a nosedive in 2017: Only 70 homes were sold between January and April 2017 compared to 330 in the same period last year. The ratio between houses and apartments stood at 1:3.

Real estate agents are worried about the drop in sales, and they wonder what the future holds. Too few homes are being built, and there is not enough public housing to go around. Demand from foreign buyers is weak and has had little effect on property prices. Most foreign buyers are Russians looking for luxury homes.

A. Č., Jasna Preskar, Radio Koper; translated by D. V.