Though Slovenia has been well-positioned from an economic point of view for a long time, the real estate market was surprisingly stagnant following the country’s independence, with prices remaining very much the same through the nineties. This was caused by the emigration of many Slovenes, the difficulty for foreigners to purchase property and the conflict in neighbouring Croatia, all of which held back any real growth in the market. With the reforms of the early 2000s and the opening of the market to foreign investors in line with EU regulations things began to grow at a much faster rate and now prices in the real estate sector are comparable to those in Western Europe – albeit a bit cheaper.

As part of a former Communist state, Slovenia is prone to the same pitfalls as any other former Soviet country – all land titles should be checked in detail by more than one independent party to ensure legality of ownership, as reclamations can be lost and confused over time. Fortunately, the Land Registry checks in the country are conducted with great efficiency, meaning confirmation can be received in around two day’s time.