The STA reports on 10 January, 2018, that apartments, offices and farm land in Slovenia have been valued anew by the Mapping and Surveying Authority (Geodetska uprava Republike Slovenije, GURS) following the revival of the real estate market. Since a new real estate tax is expected only in the next government's term, the new values will be used for calculating existing levies.
In line with yesterday's government decision, GURS will adjust the value of real estate in its registry to the situation on the market in the 2014-2017 period this month.
Under existing legislation, the registered value of real estate must be adjusted when the value of real estate in specific areas change by more than 10%.
The last indexation was conducted in 2015 for the 2010-2014 period.
After the revival of the real estate market, the value of real estate was re-assessed at the end of March 2017. The value of apartments rose by 10-25%, whereas commercial real estate lost up to 20% of the value. Changes for farm land, meanwhile, go both ways.
According to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, which in charge of GURS, the main reason for the higher prices of apartments is higher purchasing power and favourable housing loans on the one hand and relatively low supply on the other.
In the Ljubljana area, the demand and prices have gone up the most, by 25% in the city centre, also because of tourism and related short-term rentals.
Outside the capital, the value of apartments went up by some 10% and by no more than 14%.
The value of houses increased by 10-12% in towns around Ljubljana, the Bled and Bohinj lakeside resorts and the Celje area, as demand increased and supply remained relatively low, the ministry said.
Supply is low because of the limited amount of construction land available and high prices of the land.
Commercial real estate lost 10-19% of their value, with offices becoming 10-20% cheaper, as the market has still not recovered from the crisis.
The value of farmland dropped by 10% in the west, and up to 25% in the east as well as south of the capital.
In the north-east, where prices used to be very low, the value of farm land has been constantly increasing in the last five years. But the prices still remain among the lowest in the country.
The new values of real estate will be relevant only for about a year, because the new act on mass property valuation enters into force on Thursday. Under the act, the registered value of real estate will not change with the changed market value of real estate. Instead, the appraisal model will be evaluated every two years.
As part of preparations for the new law, parliament will start discussing a proposal to change the real estate recording act today.
The motion aimed at improving the system of real estate recording and record keeping will be discussed by the Committee of Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning.
A new comprehensive real estate tax is not expected sooner than two years after the implementation of the new act on mass property valuation, meaning no sooner than 2020, the newspaper Finance reports.
