Big increase in searches for cottages recorded by Greek buyers during this year’s third quarter, according to a survey presented by the real estate classifieds network Spitogatos. The increase in searches reaches 20%, even surpassing the corresponding increase in searches from foreign interested parties, which was 15%. Accordingly, the average asking price recorded an annual increase of 4.7%, while on average those interested in acquiring a country house have a budget of 300,000-350,000 euros or 4,000-5,000 euros/sq.m., based on average requested area.
The return of domestic buyers to the holiday home market is a significant development, which is recorded for the first time since the financial crisis and marks the full recovery of demand in the market, as holiday homes are usually the last property category to recover, as noted by K. Yannis Xylas, head of real estate appraisal company Geoaxis. Based on the findings of Spitogatos, in the southern suburbs of Attica, 86% of the demand for holiday homes comes from Greeks (14% from foreigners), while in the Cyclades, 65% of searches come from Greeks and 35% from foreigners.
Foreign buyers
According to Mr. George Gavrielidis, managing director of Elxis, which specializes in selling holiday homes to foreigners, “there is today a huge pool of buyers from north-west Europe, exceeding 3 million people and that’s a very conservative estimate. About 300 million people in the countries where holiday homes are already being bought in Greece, i.e. Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, have available sums of 250,000-300,000 euros, which they cannot use , since they cannot acquire a residence in their country with such an amount and taking a mortgage as an option is now considered prohibitive, due to the rise in interest rates. Thus, they are looking for other markets to invest their money, such as a modern country house, which can offer a good return.” As Mr. Gavrielidis notes, from this point of view Greece is an excellent choice, due to the affordable prices it still offers.
