Real estate values have tanked
The value of the local property market has plummeted some 2 trillion euros since the outbreak of the financial crisis eight years ago, according to the calculations of a Greek real estate consultancy.
CBRE-Atria calculated that the Greek market has lost 65 percent of its value in the years from 2009 to 2017, dropping from about 3 trillion euros to 1 trillion euros today.
The head of the consultancy, Yiannis Perrotis, says the problem is that the majority of properties are not quality assets, which means that the economic crisis has affected them more by increasing their value loss. “Properties such as old apartments in less popular areas, fields in non-touristic areas, stores or offices of low standards in secondary spots,” Perrotis explains, have been hardest hit. The drop in values has been aggravated by the imposition of high taxation.
It’s easy to find examples of properties whose value has dropped 60-65 percent in the last few years: Data from estate agents show that a new fifth-floor apartment of 60 square meters in Kypseli, central Athens, which sold for 150,000 euros in 2008, was resold at end-2016 for just 60,000 euros, a decline of 60 percent; a newly built apartment in Ambelokipi, also in Athens, was sold for 270,000 before the crisis, and today is for sale for just 120,000 euros, down 55 percent.
