Signs point to a gradual Greek real estate recovery.
While the country is still certainly facing challenges, the recent upswing in the Greek economy has been attracting more real estate investment since before the global financial crisis began in 2008. The Wall Street Journal has the full story here.
Tourism is one of the major factors that seems to be contributing to the country’s gradual but consistent recovery over the past year and a half. According to the Wall Street Journal piece, Greek Real Estate experts, like George Kintis of Alcimos, have compared the situation in Greece to that of Florida in the United States. Florida’s affordable real estate prices and perpetually warm weather have attracted not only vacationers from out of state but foreigners looking to purchase a second home. Kintis feels that European and Asian buyers in the market for a vacation home would find Greece attractive for several reasons. The Mediterranean’s consistently temperate climate makes it an ideal location for a second home. Coming off one of the worst economic crises in its history, Greece has an extremely affordable real estate market.
Though the Greek residential market has failed to recover as of yet, analysts believe the bounceback could follow on the heels of what is perceived as a modest but growing commercial recovery. Major deals have been taking place across Greece over the past 18 months. The uptick is largely being driven by the fact that European countries that underwent similar financial turmoil are beginning to recover in their real estate sectors. Hard-hit nations like Spain, and Ireland have received influxes of real estate investment over the past few years and while neither experienced the same kind of economic downturn that Greece did, the recovery of the real estate market in those countries has made real estate holding groups more optimistic about Greece’s future prospects. International real estate investors would be smart to keep a close eye on the Greek market which could be poised for a boom.