The annual report by the Bank of Greece (BoG) governor, which was unveiled for the ongoing year this year, sounded the latest “warning bells” for the increasingly high cost of housing in the country’s urban areas, pre-eminently in the greater Athens-Piraeus region.
As with similar warnings in the post-pandemic period, the BoG report points to the “onslaught” of short-term leasing properties and heightened demand for the “Golden Visa” scheme as behind both the shortage of housing and the skyrocketing residential lease rates.
“Significant issues are materializing for the possible taking of measures by the state,” is the phrase used in the central bank report.
According to BoG Gov. Yannis Stournaras, “interventions towards boosting supply and restricting investment demand for residential real estate (short-term leasing, Golden Visa) in first residence areas is considered as ameliorating the increase in rate of price increases for leases, and possibly leading to a correction of prices at a local level.”
According to the BoG, net revenues from property sales in the country purchased by foreign nationals in 2023 exceeded 2.1 billion euros.
