Daily News
Business
Prices of Flats Hit Ceiling
28.04.2008
While the prices of one-bedroom flats continued to rise in Ljubljana in the first three months of the year, prices for larger apartments began dropping. This is the first drop since 2003, when housing prices in and around Ljubljana began skyrocketing.
Prices of two-bedroom flats dropped by 3% in the last six months and three-bedroom flats now cost 4% less on average than they did in September 2007, the data shows.
"It is obvious that the advertised prices of flats, which are always slightly higher that the ones finally agreed upon, have hit the ceiling. The long and rapid growth of housing prices has brought the amounts so far that they exceed the purchasing power," the Slonep company wrote.
The average advertised price for a flat in Ljubljana stood at EUR 171,000 (EUR 2,894 per square metre). "By reducing the price by 5%, the projected difference between the advertised and the real price, it would take 164 average salaries in Ljubljana to purchase an average flat in Slovenia's capital".
An average one-bedroom flat would meanwhile require the buyer to spend 114 salaries, while an average two-bedroom flat would cost the purchaser 153 salaries.
Flats in Ljubljana are now on average 29% more expensive than in its surroundings.