The seaside town of Vouliagmeni on the southern coast of Athens is one of the areas that are at risk of becoming an island in the not-so-distant future, Costas Synolakis warns.
Foreigners choose to buy more expensive and usually larger homes than Greeks in Attica.
Based on online searches, foreigners look for homes with an average asking price of 231,625 euros, compared to €216,688 for Greeks, according to a study by Spitogatos.gr, presented by the platform’s CEO Dimitris Melachrinos at a recent event organized by the MORE Group.
However, Greeks are willing to pay 10% more than foreigners when it comes to homes in the center of Athens. On the contrary, in the southern suburbs foreigners have more expensive taste than the Greeks, looking for homes at prices 35% higher. Specifically, Greeks are looking for homes priced at €280,000 and measuring 92 square meters, while foreigners search for properties priced at €380,000 and averaging 110 sq.m., mainly for investment purposes.
A similar picture is observed in renting, where foreigners look for properties with an average monthly rent of €787, compared to €668 for Greeks. As for the areas with high demand for rentals, according to Spitogatos.gr data, these are Athens, Kallithea, Halandri, Glyfada, Nea Smyrni and Piraeus. The top 10 is completed by Maroussi, Zografou, Palaio Faliro and Ilioupoli, being an area near Elliniko but more affordable.
Regarding the housing market, the increase in demand for the Piraeus area is confirmed, both by foreign investors interested in a Golden Visa and by Greeks, due to the arrival of the metro. Therefore, Piraeus is the fifth most popular choice this year, compared to the fifth in 2023 and the seventh in 2022. The center of Athens and Glyfada are consistently the first two choices, while overall the areas of the northern and southern suburbs, along with the city center, dominate the top 10 most popular areas for buying a home.
Regarding the options for purchasing land, the center of Athens remains at the top, while a significant increase is now being observed in areas of the northern suburbs, such as Kifissia (2nd place from 6th in 2023) and Halandri, which is in second place (outside the top 10 last year).
Meanwhile, for the first time in recent years, interest in purchasing land is being recorded in more remote areas, such as Artemida, which is in fifth place, Vari-Varkiza (7th) and Markopoulo (10th).