PROPERTY MARKET 2023

The property market recorded outstanding performance for yet another year, with the tourism sector serving as the main pillar of growth for the national economy, recording, according to figures from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), a turnover of €18 billion and revenues that exceeded €20 billion. Geopolitical developments, energy costs and inflation failed to halt the rise in prices and the high demand, mainly from foreign investors.

According to figures from the Bank of Greece, the housing market across the country as a whole recorded a price increase in nominal terms for 2023 of 13.4%, compared with 11.9% for 2022. Thessaloniki records the highest rate of increase at 16.2% and Athens a rate of 13.7%. The excellent returns secured by short-term rentals are keeping demand for renovated apartments in central locations of Athens and Thessaloniki at high levels, along with high interest in the GOLDEN VISA programme, despite the government's increase in the minimum amount required to obtain the "golden visa", from 250,000 to 500,000 for Athens, Thessaloniki and top tourist destinations. According to the Bank of Greece's figures, new building permits for commercial-use properties during the second half of 2023 increased by a mere 0.3%; however, a very significant increase, of the order of 24.4%, is recorded in new permits for modern office spaces of contemporary bioclimatic architecture. In the retail sector an increase of 10.2% was recorded, while the number of permits is significantly reduced, by the order of 27.5%, in the hotel sector.

According to the Bank of Greece survey, the minimum yields for high-specification offices in central locations of Athens during the second half of 2023 ranged from 5.5% to 6.3%, and correspondingly for the same period in Thessaloniki the yields ranged between 6.5% and 7.4%. For that same period, the yields for retail premises in areas and locations of high commercial value in Athens ranged from 5.2% to 6.1%, and for Thessaloniki from 5.6% to 6.5% respectively. Real Estate Investment Companies (REICs) invested primarily in projects involving modern office spaces, high-specification logistics facilities, hotels, as well as high-end hospitality establishments. According to the Bank of Greece survey for the second half of 2023, the prospects for 2024 are positive, as urban redevelopment projects in Athens and Thessaloniki and, of course, the increasing influx of tourists, are creating an attractive investment environment with high, low-risk returns.