Athens among top house investment spots
The residential property market of Athens ranks fourth among numerous European cities in terms of how attractive it is as a destination for investors interested in exploiting real estate, according to data prepared by investment company ProfitLevel.
Its survey shows that in the case of Athens, 21.4 years is required for the depreciation of the relevant investment today. This time is calculated based on the property purchase cost and the amount of rent.
As ProfitLevel analyst Lucia Zarska reports to Kathimerini, “compared to last year, we observe an extension of the required payback time by almost four years.
This is due to the fact that home sale prices have increased at almost three times the rate of rental growth.”
According to data from Numbeo, which were used for the purposes of the research, the average sale price of a modern property (up to 15 years old) in Athens is 2,500 euros per square meter on average, while the average rental cost for an apartment of over 100 sq.m. is set at €900 on a monthly basis.
In the first place of the relevant ranking is Valencia in Spain with just 16.7 years, followed by the Canary Islands with 19.44 years and Barcelona with 19.48 years.
It is worth noting that in the case of Barcelona, the average cost of acquiring a property in the city center (data from Numbeo) is close to €5,000/sq.m. (€4,960/sq.m.) and is almost double the corresponding cost in the center of Athens. However, the rent is even higher, as the average rate for a one-bedroom apartment stands at €1,042 – 110.4% higher than the nearly €500 of a similar property in the Greek capital.
Accordingly, apartments of a larger area (110 sq.m.) in the center of Athens are rented out for €875 on average, while in Barcelona, the corresponding cost is almost double – €1,744 per month. It should be noted that based on Numbeo, the average salary after taxes and deductions amounts to €923 in Greece, compared to €1,815 in Spain, an amount that is 96.5% higher.
In any case, however, it seems that several similarities emerge, as in the end the purchasing power between a household living in Athens and one living in Barcelona does not have large differences, at least in terms of housing costs.
