Commercial real estate in Greece shows record growth
For 2022, commercial real estate in Greece showed an excellent result: the volume of foreign and local investments in the sector amounted to 1.65 billion euros, 40% higher than it was in 2021. This was a record result for the country’s commercial real estate sector.
According to analysts, the Greek hotels were of most interest to investors. There were 36 deals worth a total of €620 million. In second place in attractiveness – office space, 46 contracts were signed worth 410 million euros. Investment in stores and shopping centers amounted to 327 million euros, concluding 32 deals in total. It should be noted that this figure is 200% higher than the results in 2021.
As for warehouses and industrial facilities, they attracted a total of €100 million. A similar amount is observed in the sector of land transactions for the construction of logistics real estate.
The increase in demand has not gone unnoticed for pricing in the commercial real estate market. Their value began to rise as early as the end of 2022, and the positive dynamics continue. However, this situation does not worry foreign investors, the volume of investments of which has become a record for the country. Compared with 2021, the volume of foreign capital in real estate in Greece has exceeded 60% and amounted to more than 1.28 billion euros.
According to analysts, the main factors to increase the attractiveness of the local market were the growth of tourism and increasing demand in the short-term rental market. It should be noted that the interest of foreign investors was not limited to commercial objects, the number of transactions in the residential real estate sector has also increased.
As for the housing market, buying and renting prices continue to rise. At the same time, there are a large number of empty homes in Greece, which could to some extent close the problem of rising rents.
Ten years ago official statistics spoke of 900,000 empty homes, which corresponds to almost 14% of Greece’s entire stock. This number does not include vacation homes, a large percentage of which are also unused. This amount of empty homes can be rented out, and ramshackle properties can be demolished to build new real estate.
According to the data, Greece has one of the highest rates of residential property vacancy in Europe, and most of this property is concentrated in the urban sector. Empty houses are observed in Athens, Piraeus, and Thessaloniki, where they could bring additional income. However, the problem of empty houses is still unresolved, there are no effective mechanisms for the use of this housing.