Country house building flurry
The increases in the sale prices of holiday homes and the consistently high buying interest from abroad have led to large growth in the construction of new holiday properties across Greece.
According to ELSTAT data processed by Elxis, which specializes in country houses, the increase in construction activity in selected areas is multiple times that of Attica, which is showing signs of saturation.
In the 12-month period of March 2023 to February 2024, there were significant increases in private construction activity based on volume. On an annual basis the increase in the Ionian Islands reached 58.2% (and by 50.2% based on the area, while based on the number the increase is 31.3%), in Western Greece 38.1%, and on Crete 37.4%. In the same period, in Attica the increase was only 7.9%.
Even more evident is the distance observed between Attica and the other regions of the country during this year’s first two months. While in Attica there was a 3.4% decrease in the volume of private construction activity, on the Ionian Islands there was a 157.4% increase, on Crete it was up 73.8%, while even in Western Greece there was an increase of 21.4%.
As Elxis has reported in recent analyses, parts of Crete (especially in the south of the regional units of Rethymno and Hania), but also the entire western side of mainland Greece, near the Ionian Sea, from Preveza and Igoumenitsa in the north to Palairos and Mytikas in Aitoloakarnania, are points of great demand for the purchase of country houses by foreigners, especially from the countries of Northern and Western Europe.
“Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Swiss and Brits have increasingly chosen these areas for the acquisition of a newly built holiday property in recent years, which also explains the significant increase in investments made by builders,” stresses Elxis Managing Director Giorgos Gavriilidis.
He adds that sales prices are recording a 10% annual increase for new country houses with the average value being around 350,000-450,000 euros, depending on the characteristics of the property (quality of construction, amenities and area) and its location.
