Real estate prices in Greece are rapidly rising amid a slowdown in growth rates in most European countries.

Greecehas followed the opposite path to the European average and most European countries in the area of pricing of thereal estateand this difference is expected to continue this year, as market representatives expect high prices especially for new buildings.

Eurostat data on the course of real estate prices clearly reflected stagnant or even falling prices in many European marketsreal estate. The average for the European Union was -0.3% and for the eurozone -1.2% as at least eight major European markets recorded price declines.

The progress of real estate prices inGreeceis not included in the Eurostat study, due to the fact that the recording and monitoring of the relevant index is carried out by the Bank of Greece. Despite the different methodology, the main 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 prices will be in 2024.

2. Greece is included among the “champions” for value increases in 2023, and it is likely to retain this position this year, as the factors that drive up real estate prices, especially for new buildings, have not disappeared.

Figures for 2023 showed a price increase of 13.4% on an annualized basis, compared to 11.9% in 2022.

There are several reasons why such different rates of change in real estate prices are recorded. First, the difference in growth rates, which also affects real estate prices, plays a key role. On the other hand, Greece, emerging from years of crisis, has a clearly greater shortage of new buildings compared to the rest of Europe.

Nowhere in Europe have we had such a construction freeze for 10 years in a row. This has affected the balance of supply and demand and that is why there are more than 210,000 properties missing from the market. Supply does not match demand, prices for building materials continue to rise twice as fast as inflation, there is a very high demand for new buildings and energy efficient properties due to the climate crisis, and demand (and therefore price increases) is supported not only by domestic buyers but also by foreigners.

Greece is also presented as the last chance to invest and obtain a European passport on favorable terms due to the recently tightened “golden visa” rules that will be implemented from October.