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Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Slovenian real estate market9 years ago Slovenia was still the richest republic in the Yugoslav federation. Now it is the most prosperous among the candidates for the European union membership. With per capita gross domestic product of more than $13 000 (US Dollars) Slovenians enjoy higher living standards than in the poorest Western European country Greece. The main financial rating agencies - Moody's, Standard & Poor's and FITCH IBCA gave the country high grades -A3, A, A (where usually AAA is the highest grade and D - lowest). In September 1999 Slovenia was ranked in 33rd position among 180 countries according to the following criteria: economic performance, political risk, debt indicators, credit ratings, access to bank finance, access to short-term finance and access to capital markets. The Institutional Investor's Country Credit Rating of September 1999 showed Slovenia in 28th place among 135 countries. Almost untouched by the wars of cessation in the former Yugoslav federation, Slovenia has conserved almost intact its past glory as the "Balkan Switzerland". The political storms in neighboring Croatia and the diminishing Slovenian population did not allow the positive and substantial developments in the real estate market. Prices remain within the same ranges as 10-15 years ago, denominated in German Marks (for the former and present Yugoslav republics the German Marks are considered as the main reserve currency). In January, 2000, a small studio in the capital Ljubljana could be bought for $1650/sq.meter (1 sq.m.=appr. 10 sq.feet). The same property could be bought for approximately the same amount during the 90s, except for the brief periods that coincided with the active military operations in the neighboring Croatia. Such brief periods (after the first couple of years of independent Slovenia in 1991-1992) were the spring and the summer of 1995 and the Kosovo crisis in the first half of 1999. The bigger the property surface, the less is the price per sq.meter. At the beginning of 2000 the 1BR property cost $1400/sq.meter, 2BR and 3BR - $1300/sq.meter. The market for commercial and office purposes in Ljubljana has been much more fluctuating during the 90s. Businessmen had to pay between $1000/sq.meter (June 1995) and $3300/sq.meter (December 1997) and now the prices for commercial purposes stay at $1900/sq.meter. The rents in the capital of Slovenian vary from $125 for single room to $550 for average 3BR properties. The rents for residential purposes did not change during the 90s for the most expensive segments of the market. They changed very moderately for the lower and middle segments - +$20 for a single room, + $50 for a small studio, +$30 for 1BR and +$15 for 2 BR properties. The rents for commercial and office purposes in the 90s followed the general pattern of fluctuation observed in the office selling market. The rents varied between $5 and $20/sq.meter and in the beginning of the 2000 are staying in average at $15/sq.meter. The prices of the residential and commercial properties in the other regions of the country could attain the level set by the capital (e.g. in Gorenska region) or could reach as low as 30 percent of the prices in Ljubljana (e.g. in Pomurska region). The rents for the residential purposes at the coastal regions can even be a little higher than in the capital of Ljubljana. The almost stable residential real estate market can be partly explained by the high level of state regulation and the state social policy of providing cheaper credit. For young families under 35 y.o. there are special credit programmes with a floating annual interest rate +3% above the main interest rate. For a limited number of home credit applicants the interest could go as low as +2.25 above the main interest rate. The repayment terms are most often set between 10 and 20 years. The main interest rate in January 2000 was 10.4 percent (8.6 percent a year earlier). The effective main interest rate is rather moderate given that the inflation in Slovenia reached 7-8 percent annually in the past couple of years. The interest rates hikes of the last year were an additional cause of the stagnation of the real estate market in Slovenia. The second force that keeps the real estate in Slovenia from further hikes is that the market itself that has reached the average price levels of the European Union. The close trade relations between Slovenia and the Western Europe and the coming membership in the elitarian club, which will take place in the next 2-3 years, are making the small country wholly dependant on the price levels and trends of the Western European economies.
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Slovenia.
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