Residential market slowdown

• 28 June, 25

The housing market is currently showing tangible signs of a slowdown, as for the first time in years it seems demand can no longer keep up with the rate of price increases, as some fatigue is setting in.

This is estimated to be the beginning of a process of stabilization, possibly even price correction, in order to restore balance in the market. In the meantime, it seems to be a common observation that the second cycle of the “My Home” program has reinforced market distortions, as it caused a new wave of increases in both sales prices and rental rates, driven by the rise in taxable values.

These are some of the main conclusions from the real estate market barometer, carried out on a six-monthly basis by the University of Macedonia. Market professionals appear clearly more pessimistic than the entire sample regarding the future course of prices, which is recorded for the first time in the survey carried out since 2023. More than two out of five (41%) professionals report that the price increases over the past few years are a bubble, and an additional 28% consider them unjustified. That 41% is twice as high as the rate in the entire samples. A year ago (May 2024) those rates were much lower, as only 16% of professionals spoke of a bubble and only 18% of irrational price increases.

The divergence of opinions between professionals and the rest of the sample is also reflected in the forecast for the course of the market over the next 12 months. While the entire sample estimates that 51% of prices will rise and 26.5% that they will remain stable, only 37% of professionals predict an increase in prices and 48.5% believe they will stabilize.

Even more notable are findings on the course of the sale prices of newly built homes, where 23% of professionals expect a decrease, 37% believe they will remain stable, and only 34.5% see an increase, while in the entire sample 73.5% speak of an increase in newbuild sale prices.

The survey also found there are now fewer actual buyers than sellers.

Cre: ekathimerini