In 2023, Greece followed an opposite course in relation to the European average and most European countries in terms of real estate prices, while this difference is expected to continue this year, with market representatives expecting high prices especially in new buildings.
Eurostat’s data on the course of real estate prices clearly reflected the stagnation or even falling prices in many European real estate markets. The average for the European Union stood at -0.3% and for the eurozone at -1.2%, as at least eight major European markets recorded a drop in prices.
The course of real estate prices in Greece is not included in the Eurostat survey, which is due to the fact that the recording and monitoring of the relative index is done by the Bank of Greece. Despite the different methodology, the basic conclusions are as follows:
1. “Fatigue” is already evident in the European real estate market and it will be very interesting to see what the course of the prices will be during 2024.
2. Greece is included among the “champions” of revaluations for 2023 and it is most likely that it will hold this position again this year, because the factors that push the prices, especially of newly built properties upwards, have not disappeared. The 2023 figures showed a price increase of 13.4% on an annual basis compared to 11.9% in 2022.
The main reasons
There are several reasons why this different speed of change in real estate prices is recorded.
First, the difference in growth rate plays a key role, which also affects property prices. On the other hand, Greece, coming out of a multi-year crisis, has clearly a greater lack of newly built properties compared to the rest of Europe.
Nowhere else in Europe have we had such a “freeze” in construction activity for 10 consecutive years. This has affected the balance of supply and demand and this is why more than 210,000 properties are missing from the market.
Property supply is not meeting demand, building material prices continue to rise at twice the rate of inflation, there is very high demand for newly built and energy-upgraded properties due to the climate crisis, while demand (and thus price increases) is fueled not only from the domestic buyers but also from foreigners.
Greece is also presented as the last chance to invest and obtain a European passport on favorable terms following the recently upgraded and stricter “golden visa” measures that will be implemented as of October.
