The buying and selling property trends in Greece this year are expected to be a lot better than they have been over the past few years. Greece is still a prominent overseas property destination, despite the havoc caused by the recent economic crisis in the country.
The damage caused by the economic crisis in Greece is so great that according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), it would take till 2050 till home prices in Greece get back to the levels they were at in 2008.
The property market in Greece is beset by a number of problems. For one, the economic crisis in Athens continues. The government has gone on a taxation spree and the property taxes are exorbitant. There is not much financing available for prospective home buyers, many of whom have withdrawn from the market.
There is an oversupply of homes in the market, because of the number of bank repossessed properties. The glut of homes available in the market is so high that it would take nearly 30 years before the balance between demand and supply is restored.
These are some of the factors that led PwC to project that home prices in Greece would return to the level of 2002-2008 only by 2050. Even for this to happen, the Greek economy should grow at 0.6 percent, at least.
To summarize, the biggest problem in the real estate market in Greece is that there is an enormous stock of unsold properties that are on the market. There’s an issue with high taxes and with not much mortgage lending available.
Indeed, real estate taxes have jumped by six times since 2010. Property tax in Greece accounts for 4 percent of all taxes. This was never so high before. The overall tax rate in the country has increased from 26 percent to 34 percent from 2008 to 2022, and during this period, home prices have fallen by 41 percent at an average.
However, there are two ways of looking at it, and things may not be as desperate as they look at first glance. While the situation in Athens is too horrible to contemplate, life in the Greek islands of Rhodes, Mykonos, Crete, Samos, etc., goes on just as before.
It is as though there wasn’t ever a crisis in the Greek islands. Greece received over 25 million foreign tourists in 2021, and over 22 million in 2022, which is as high as it gets.
Most of the tourists visit the Greek islands of Mykonos, Rhodes, Corfu, Crete and more. Business is thriving, there’s a party atmosphere here, and everyone just wants to have a good time.
There is still a huge demand for homes in the Greek Islands. Any real estate in Mykonos, for example, continues to be highly sought after. It also helps that a typical beachfront mansion that was priced at $25 million in 2008 is today available for $5 million.
So a number of cash rich, wealthy investors from emerging countries such as Russia and China, as well as from the Middle East, are looking to buy properties in the Greek islands. Interest from Britain, Germany, Sweden and Norway remains high as well. So the party goes on in Greece, or at least in the Greek Islands.
If you need to buy or sell property in Greece fast contact us today.
