Focus: Greek property shows resilience, continues to draw investor interest

Investors are seeing promise in the Greek real estate market, suggesting that the country’s property sector will remain resilient even as asset markets elsewhere contend with a rising interest rate environment.

Attractive prices in a range of asset classes – including the residential, commercial, industrial, and hospitality sectors – combined with Greece’s underlying growth prospects will continue to support Greek real estate, according to analysts.

The latest Bank of Greece data show that Greek residential property prices are up by double-digit amounts – rising at an 11.2% year-on-year rate in the third quarter, up from a 10.1% rate in the second. While a new survey by consultancy Deloitte names Athens as one of the Top 10 most attractive European cities for hotel investments in 2023.

Just in the past few months, Greece continued to draw a string of investors – with recent noteworthy deals emanating from Spain and Singapore – in the country’s booming hospitality sector. Concurrently, several landmark projects, such the €2.5 billion Ellinikon smart city project or the refurbishment of the Athens Hilton, are now underway. And in the past several weeks, property investment companies Trastor and Briq Properties have proceeded to acquire new land parcels near Athens for development as future logistics facilities.

Although Greek property prices have been rising strongly in the past half-decade, housing prices are still considered below their peak of 15 years ago, prior to the financial crisis when residential prices fell by more than 40%. Compared with other Mediterranean markets, Greek real estate prices are seen as competitive and offer attractive yields, according to one recent study.

However, in a bid to support young couples and vulnerable segments of society to afford housing, in September the government announced a new, nationwide policy to help young couples and others, squeezed by rising property prices, buy a home or find affordable housing. The €1.8 billion program targets more than 100,000 prospective home owners and renters. It envisions a series of reforms ranging from the development of state-owned real estate assets to subsidized loans to a higher investment threshold for Golden Visa applicants.