SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Blaž Ogorevc, Miha Štravs and Blaž Murko, Odvetniki Šelih & partnerji, o.p., d.o.o.
ness complex Vilharia, which is underway and is going to be the first LEED platinum certified building in Slovenia. Due to rising inflation and increases in interest rates, the price of real property has increased and as a result there has been a decrease in real estate transactions and leases of business premises. In 2023, purchase transactions for all industrial space declined by around 40%, with significantly smaller declines in office space (13%) and retail and service space (7%). The number of business premises leases also decreased by 15–20% at national level in 2023. Although modern technologies in financial services, such as blockchain, decentralised finance and similar, are present in the Slovenian real estate industry, their impact cannot yet be considered as disruptive, nor is it expected to become disruptive to these services in the next year. Conversely, proptech has had a significant impact on the real estate industry, most signifi - cantly through online marketplaces for short- term housing leases (eg, Airbnb, Booking). The emergence of such online marketplaces resulted in increased interest from investors in the pur - chase of real estate in order to lease it short term, which resulted in increased housing prop - erty prices. Due to the increased tourist count each year and, consequently, the increase in demand for accommodation, it is expected that online marketplaces will continue to impact the real estate industry in the year ahead. There were some adaptations of formerly com - mercial office space to residential property. However, this is not a big trend in Slovenia, as the process of changing the use of commercial space to residential use is quite complicated and there is still a high demand for office space.
Financing resources for real estate projects are still mainly the different types of financial loans from banks or equity. Corwin, currently one of the biggest real estate developers in Slovenia, has attempted an issue of a five-year real estate bond for one of their projects; however, there was not much demand for it. Since foreclosures and workouts/restructuring were not a major trend during rising inflation and the increase in interest rates, it can be expected they will be even less so, if the expected stabili - In Slovenia, reform in the taxation of real estate has been a long time coming. The ruling political parties have announced, in the coalition agree - ment, the introduction of a wealth tax, which would encompass reform in the taxation of real estate. Reform in the taxation of real estate is a measure that has long been proposed by inter - national organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Slovenian Ministry of Finance launched a Tax Task Force and a Strategic Tax Council in February 2024 to analyse the challenges of the current tax system and share proposals for possible solutions. It is likely that real estate, in which the owner lives, will not be taxed, but each additionally owned real estate might be. The rate of taxation is not yet known, but it has been sug - gested that it could range from 0.1% to up to 1% of the value of the real estate per year. The reform in the taxation of real estate is intended to limit investment and speculative purchases and force owners of empty real estate to put it on the market. sation of the market occurs. 1.3 Proposals for Reform
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