Crisis smashed sales and property values

According to experts this is the worst housing downturn taking place last years. Also, they estimated that during the following year this crisis will lead to significant decline of property value and will reduce tax revenue.

The real estate market n Greece, both the residential and commercial divisions are very uncertain as the prices are continuously pushed down, due to the increasing tax burden imposed and the weak demand.

However, it is clear nowadays that the things will stop getting worse every day. It is estimated that during the last three years home prices fell in three-fourth in big Greek cities such as Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra and Larissa due to the strict lending process and liquidity needs of their owners selling in ridiculously low prices. More analytically, residential property prices started to fall in 2009, but at a relatively slow pace 2-6.3%, depending on the property and the region. The same decline rate was maintained until 2012, when the apartments prices plunged by 11.8% in Athens and 13.4% in Thessaloniki. A similar picture is formed by examining Bank of Greece’s data for the first quarter of 2013. Certainly, the rapid decline in prices was expected, as the number of transactions has already been declining since 2008, because of the turmoil caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The market seemed to recover in 2010, but the debt crisis reduced the trading volume by 39.8% and 30.1% in the next two years.

As far we are concerned real estate is a growing and challenging market in Greece. Regarding companies, the installation and operation in Greece is a very good prospect as the labor costs are low compared to the specialization of labor, the income tax rates are among the lowest in the EU and the cost of renting or purchasing offices and production units has been minimized due to the economic crisis.

Residential market is also of particular interest. In Greece, a building boom took place until 2010 when the debt crisis broke out. Thus, there are remarkable properties both in Athens and its suburbs (Kifisia, Ekali, Nea Erythraia, Palaio Faliro, Voula, Vouliagmeni, Glyfada) but also on Aegean (Paros, Naxos, Mykonos, Santorini, Kos, Rhodes) and Ionian islands (Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Lefkada, Corfu).

In conclusion, you have to remember that investing in real estate in Greece is not such an easy case, from a tax and legal aspect, so you should better ask an expert before your make your move.