European prices boost demand for Greek holiday homes

• 3 March, 25

The Greek holiday home market is set to benefit from the downward trend in interest rates in the eurozone.

According to a relevant analysis by Elxis – At Home in Greece, which is active in the purchase, sale and management of holiday homes in Greece, this development has put the sale prices of homes in the eurozone back on an upward trajectory. Especially in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, this is expected to further boost demand.

As Elxis CEO Giorgos Gavriilidis emphasizes, “the return of house prices in the markets of Northwestern Europe to an upward trajectory will work favorably for the Greek holiday home market. Despite the price increases of holiday properties at an average annual rate of 8-10% over the last four to five years, the comparison with abroad remains very favorable. For example, in the Netherlands, 500,000 euros is currently required to buy a modern house. In Munich, southern Germany, a detached house is valued at €1.5 million. At the same time, on Crete, a newly built villa with a swimming pool and two bedrooms costs €280,000, or €360,000 if it has three bedrooms.”

Gavriilidis states characteristically that “with this money in the Netherlands one buys a house made of a container, or plastic, in a park, without even owning the land, which is rented from the local municipality.”

A recent analysis by ING on the European housing market points out that these factors will continue to have a positive impact on prices, not only because of the fall in ECB interest rates, but also because there are structural imbalances in many real estate markets in Europe. In the Netherlands and Germany, the supply of new homes continues to lag dramatically behind demand, pushing prices upward.

“The most important thing, however, is that those Europeans who have some savings – e.g. €300,000 – find that they cannot access the housing market. On the contrary, with the same money they can acquire a newly built holiday home with a swimming pool in Greece, which can even generate rental income and significant future capital gains,” says Gavriilidis.

Cre: ekathimerini