Foreigners eyeing local realty

Citizens of Germany, the United States and Britain, partly due to the strong Greek element in those countries, are the three most dynamic groups of home buyers in the Greek market. According to a relevant presentation by the online real estate classifieds network Spitogatos.gr, in the context of the second day of the 23rd annual Prodexpo real estate conference on Tuesday, out of every 1 million real estate searches, a percentage of around 15% concern interested parties from abroad.

Spitogatos.gr Managing Director Dimitris Melachroinos said Germans are by far the most numerous group of interested parties, looking for real estate across the country, but especially in Thessaloniki and Halkidiki. Demand comes from both Germans and members of the Greek diaspora, while the available budget averages around 170,000 euros.

They are followed by buyers from the US, also with significant interest from members of the diaspora, who tend to have the highest budget at €350,000, for properties of 125 square meters on average. They prefer homes on the Cyclades islands and in the southern suburbs of Attica. A significant and continuous increase is also being seen in demand from France, with an emphasis on the Cyclades, especially on the island of Paros and secondarily in the center of Athens.

A considerable increase in demand for homes in Greece by Israelis has also been observed. They are mainly looking at the northern and southern suburbs of Attica, central Athens and the Cyclades.

Eitan Maoz, founder and CEO of EM Global Real Estate Investment, a company which provides services to investors interested in Greece, made special reference to the interest of investors from Israel in the Greek real estate market: “Israelis are interested in buying real estate in Greece for a number of reasons, starting with the very high prices prevailing in their own country. Here they can buy two or three properties with the same money or participate in small investment projects. In addition, Greece is geographically very close and much more accessible than the US.”