One in four houses in Attica, or a total of 526,154 properties, are closed or empty, as shown by the building stock census by ELSTAT in 2021. This figure partly explains the large mismatch between supply and demand, as well as the high sale and rental prices.
Property market experts say the current number is most likely even higher, taking into account the absorption of a significant number of properties in the meantime, without there being a particularly large increase in private construction activity to replace them.
That is also the other main reason that explains the very low supply, namely the collapse of construction activity during the years of the economic crisis. Throughout the 2011-2021 period only 48,622 dwellings were added to the total stock of Attica, with the majority of them (32,135) being added during the first five years – i.e. the period 2011-2016.
To understand the magnitude of the drop, it is enough to calculate that in the preceding decade (2001-2011) 303,876 new dwellings were built in Attica. Therefore, in the decade that followed, the new dwellings that were built correspond to only 16% of the total for the period 2001-2011.