Opinion: Inflation “feeds” the Greek real estate market

One of the main savings tools of Greek depositors since the country entered the eurozone is being abolished. We are talking about time deposits, which according to the banks, after the reduction of their yields to a little over 0%, no longer have a reason to exist. This fact, in connection with the rapid increase in inflation recorded in recent months, “climbing” to 10.2%, seems to be a helper that “feeds” the real estate market with funds from those seeking safe investments and returns.

Recently, the mobility in the real estate market for small shops in the center of Athens and mainly around Omonia, Sophocleous and Athenas Streets has intensified, especially after the investments for new stores of health interest (i.e. restaurants) that have taken place inside Varvakeio Agora. The interested buyers are mainly individuals who have savings and are looking for small stores with available funds in the range of 100,000-150,000 euros, with the aim of monthly rental income and the increase of values ​​after the upcoming renovations in the center of Athens.

At the same time, intense mobility has been recorded recently by depositors of up to 150,000 euros who are looking for two or even three properties to place their savings in safe investments with the aim of monthly income, in areas that can yield returns on the value of the property in near future. The reason for investing in two and / or three properties is mainly the impairment – the reduction of the investment “risk” – and / or the possibility of selling one property in case of need of immediate liquidity due to an emergency.

The same picture is recorded beyond the major urban centers, mainly by retirees who have received the lump sum and / or executives of companies that have received bonuses before retirement, who for fear of impairing their deposits are looking for apartments and / or studios in the center of Patras and / or in areas such as Exo Agyia, Pyrosvestio, Pelekanos with an available investment capital per house of 1,200 euros / sq.m. A similar picture is recorded in the Arcadian capital, with the investment capital for small houses built after 2000 not exceeding 1,000-1,200 euros / sq.m. It is worth mentioning that in Tripoli there is a strong demand for houses for rent, which is a key incentive for investing funds with the aim of monthly income.

In addition, a new wave of investment interest is recorded by young people in the age group of 25-30 years who have savings of 20,000-30,000 euros aiming at a monthly income. They are looking for residential properties in areas such as Kypseli, Gyzi and Patision. Due to the small available capital, they target 20-40 sq.m. houses of the 1960-1970 decade that need renovation. We should emphasize that the rapid increase in inflation in relation to the increase in rents we expect will act as a lever of “pressure” to buy a student housing unit, especially for the parents of new students of the academic year 2022-2023 who have deposits and will proceed with the search of a residence in a city, other than their home.

Themistoklis Bakas is the president of the Panhellenic E-Real Estate Network