Greek city properties bottom of global list
Athens and Thessaloniki rank pretty low among their global peers when it comes to the course of residential property prices, reflecting both the continued crisis in the local market and the considerable recovery seen internationally, as recorded in the year’s first quarter by real estate consultants Knight Frank.
Athens ranked 129th among 150 cities, with its residential property prices having shrunk 1.4 percent in the last year. Thessaloniki fared worse, as its 2.7 percent drop landed it in 138th position.
Prices in Cypriot cities appear to have taken a similar course, with Limassol in 124th place after a 0.5 percent decline, Nicosia in 128th, down 1.1 percent, and Larnaca in 130th, with its rates sliding 1.5 percent. However, the difference is that the market in Cyprus is on a rising course in terms of transaction numbers, as demand is recovering, so it’s only a matter of time before prices rebound.
On the other hand, the gap between supply and demand in Greece is huge, as an estimated 150,000 houses or more are waiting for a buyer, while rates have fallen 42 percent since end-2008, according to the Bank of Greece.
