Greek property prices has slightly fallen and remains low, according to latest statistics from Bank of Greece real estate market analysis.
The Greek Golden visa program provides the much needed demand for Greek property market as many Chinese, Turkish and Russian foreign investors buy property in Greece over 250,000 euros. According to latest statistics Greek golden visa scheme has soared 40% and over 2170 residence permits issued in 2017 alone. Property buyers get a five year permanent residence permit under the Greek golden visa scheme. The prevailing low property prices makes it attractive for investors to buy property in Greece. Currently the Greek Golden visa property investment scheme is the cheapest in Europe compared to Spain and Portugal.
According to Global property guide, The Greek economy was estimated to have grown by 1.6% last year and is expected to grow by another 2.5% this year, amidst a tourism upsurge. And after seven years of falling house prices, things are turning around. The national debt was 180.2% of GDP in 2017, from 159.6% of GDP in 2012 and 103.6% of GDP in 2006, according to the IMF.
According to latest figures from Bank of Greece, nominal apartment prices are estimated to have declined marginally on average by 0.3% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017, whilst in 2017 the average annual decline in apartment prices was 1.0%, compared with an average decrease of 2.4% in 2016.
During Q4 2017, prices of “new” apartments (up to 5 years old) as well as of “old” apartments (over 5 years old) dropped marginally by 0.3% year-on-year. For the whole of 2017, prices of “new” apartments declined by 0.8%, against a decline of 3.0% in 2016, whereas “old” apartment prices declined by 1.1% in 2017, against a decrease of 2.0% in 2016.
By geographical area, in the fourth quarter of 2017 apartment prices are estimated to have marginally declined year-on-year by 0.1% in Athens, 0.6% in Thessaloniki and by 0.4% in other cities and in other areas of Greece. For the whole of 2017, apartment prices declined on average by 0.9%, 1.4%, 1.3% and 0.8%, respectively, in the above-mentioned areas. Finally, as regards all urban areas of the country, in the fourth quarter of 2017 apartment prices marginally declined by 0.3% year-on-year, whereas for 2017 the average annual decline was 1.0%.
* Provisional data. Source: Bank of Greece.
Construction and Building permits
The building permits for the Private Building Activity issued in Greece in November 2017 amounted to 1,296. During the period January – November 2017, Total Building Activity (private-public) in Greece recorded a 10.2% increase in the number of issued building permits, a 21.1% increase in surface and a 23.6% increase in volume, compared with the corresponding period of 2016
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