The issue of increasing supply and returning more apartments to real estate market is a key bet, in order to decompress the sale and rental prices of houses and to satisfy the demand.
Based on the latest estimates and data available to AADE, it is estimated that approximately 700,000 – 750,000 properties are declared as closed/not supplied with electricity on the E9 form.
The extent to which they are really closed and therefore not utilized is certainly a question to be investigated, as it is not excluded that some of these properties are rented out, but without declaring these incomes somewhere, so that the corresponding tax is not paid.
About 80,000 properties were not declared to the tax authorities and therefore their owners paid neither ENFIA nor any taxes on income from their exploitation.
Moreover, only recently it became known that approximately 80,000 properties were “ghost” properties, i.e. they had not been declared to the tax authorities and therefore their owners paid neither ENFIA, nor certainly any taxes on income from their exploitation.
In this context, capturing the real situation in the housing market turns out to be particularly complicated, since the level of transparency and accuracy of the relevant data remains at a low level.
What seems certain is that many apartments seem closed. Real estate market executives report that many of these properties are owned by people who live outside of Athens, in other cities (e.g. retirees who have returned to their hometowns) and have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with the these houses, only if an interested buyer is found.
But again they have fallen into the possession of heirs and either they are legally and urban planning “entangled”, or there are family disputes over their utilization, with the result that their utilization is also unfeasible. In other cases, their owners cannot afford to repair and rent them out.
Real estate market executives report that many of the foreclosed properties belong to people who live outside of Athens, such as retirees who have returned to their hometown, and have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with these houses, too only if an interested buyer is found.
Therefore, it is of particular value to attempt, in collaboration with the database of Spitogatos.gr and Spitogatos Insights, an “exercise” to search for the evolution of the offer of houses for rent and sale according to the area, but also the available surface. Some areas, such as the northern and southern suburbs for example, have more apartments of large area, while on the opposite side in the center of Athens there are more properties of smaller area.
A different picture shows the stock of houses of 55-85 m2, depending on whether they are properties available for sale or rent. The resulting conclusions are very interesting, given that this is the most popular category among interested buyers or renters. It should be noted that Ta figures are based on average inventory per brokerage, for the period from 2020 to 2024. Therefore, based on Spitogatos data, in the 15 areas that gather the highest stock of 55-85 sq.m. homes, properties available for sale show a significant drop, compared to those available for rent, where significant increases in inventory are recorded. Of the 15 areas with the highest inventory of homes for sale, 10 of them are seeing a decrease in inventory. On the contrary, in the corresponding 15 areas with the highest rental housing stock, a decrease is observed in only three of them, while in the remaining 12 there is an increase.
Thus, as far as the properties for sale are concerned, in many areas there is a decline in supply, as sales have increased significantly and a large percentage of the existing stock has been absorbed. However, there is no corresponding replenishment, either through new constructions, or through the availability of more used houses for sale.
Thus, the significant increase in prices observed in recent years is explained. An important role in this has also been played by the “My Home” program, which “ran” with great success in 2023 and resulted in the sale of a significant number of properties, especially in the center of Athens. At the same time, the previous year was also characterized by the “frenzy” of home purchases by foreign investors from countries outside the EU, who wanted to secure a residence permit, through the “Golden Visa” program, before the minimum investment limit was doubled from 250,000 at 500,000 euros.
As can be seen from the data, the areas of the center and the southern suburbs, where, among other things, this change was implemented, record a significant reduction in the offered inventory of homes for sale.
In particular, the largest decrease in the sale of houses with an area of 55-85 sq.m., in the period 2020-2024, is shown by Cell with 29%, followed by its region L. Patision and L. Acharnonwith a decrease of 16.5%.
In Nika the drop was 14.1%, in Paleo Faliro 12.3%, in N. Kosmos 12% and in Nea Smyrni it reached 10.7%. A 9.1% decrease is also found in the apartments sold in Kolonos, while the decreases are smaller in Pagrati (3.1%), Glyfada (1.7%) and Kallithea (1%).
The picture is different when it comes to the stock of rental apartments, 55-85 sq.m. in the areas that have the largest concentration of offered properties. In 12 of the 15 regions, an increase in inventory is recorded between 2020 and today. This is explained thanks to two main reasons. The first is that several landlords wanted to avoid the seasonality and short-term rental crisis in 2020-2021 by opting for long-term contracts.
Most of them did not return to the previous regime of exploitation of their property. The second reason is due to the large increase in rents in recent years, which motivated many owners to exploit their closed property. Somehow, in areas such as Kallithea, Kypseli, Marousi, Paleo Faliro, Nea Smyrni, Vouliagmeni and Pagrati, a large increase in the stock of houses for rent is recorded. In Kallithea, for example, there is currently a steep increase of 67.3% in the number of apartments available for rent, while in Kypseli, 1/3 more properties are currently offered (33.3%) compared to 2020. Correspondingly, in Marousi, the increase of supply reaches 29%, compared to four years ago. The only areas where a decrease in stock is observed are Kolonaki-Lykavittos with 8.5%, Glyfada with 8%, the area of L. Patision-L. Acharnon with 4.3%, while in Ampelokipi, the properties offered are almost the same (0.1%) as in 2020.
