New objective values still a long way from going rates

After nine long years, the property rates used for tax purposes, known as “objective values,” have been reduced, to apply retroactively from May 21, 2015.

The new values, reduced by 5 to 20.59 percent and determined by the Finance Ministry, have not taken into account the distortions generated since the outbreak of the crisis, so they remain a long way above the actual market rates.

The ministry has therefore practically made a political decision, ignoring the real differences between the objective values and the market prices.

For instance, in Kifissia, northern Athens, where the margin between the market and the taxable rates is about 40 percent, the ministry cut the objective values by just 10 percent. In Vouliagmeni, southern Athens, the margin is 55 percent but the reduction was less than 10 percent.