PROPERTY

House rates up 21% since 2018

Residential property prices have been largely unaffected by the pandemic, continue to rally

House rates up 21% since 2018

Unlike the rest of the economy, the effect of the pandemic on the property market appears to have been negligible, lasting for just a few months.

In the last quarter of 2021 the average asking price for residential assets in Attica reached up to 1,840 euros per square meter, up 7.6% year-on-year. The average asking rent in the capital climbed to €8/sq.m. per month, climbing 5.2% from the same quarter in 2020, according to the Spitogatos Property Index (SPI).

Comparison of the 2021 data, as collected by the Spitogatos online classified ads platform, with 2018’s – long before the outbreak of the pandemic – is quite revealing: In those three years house sale prices in Attica posted an average increase of 21%, while rental rates climbed 13.6%. Of course there are different growth rates in various areas, with soaring demand driving certain districts’ rates very high.

Residential rental rates in the capital’s western suburbs have risen 32% in three years (and 4.9% over the last year), reducing the options of affordable apartments for a significant portion of tenants. Currently the average asking rent in western Attica comes to €7/sq.m. per month, against €5.3/sq.m. in 2018. The northern suburbs have also witnessed a significant rally in rental rates, as the rate increased 24.2% between 2018 and 2021 – from €7.7/sq.m. to €9.6/sq.m.

Consequently the distortion created before the pandemic has now been corrected, as rental rates in the center of Athens are not higher than in the northern suburbs of the city any longer. The saturation of the short-term rental market has contributed to this correction: City center rentals currently average at €8.8/sq.m. per month, which is 11.3% below its level in the last quarter of 2018, when the market had reached its peak, close to a rate of €10/sq.m.

Sale prices have shown a more universal rise, with rates in the western suburbs having grown almost 30% in three years to €1,470/sq.m. In the center of Athens and the northern and southern suburbs, the rise averages at 17%.

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