Younger foreign realty buyers
A growing number of young foreign buyers are acquiring holiday homes in Greece.
People as young as 30 are buying such residences, with their main motivation being utilizing the investment rather the acquisition of a property for their own summer holidays. This is a new trend which has been observed in the last five years, complementing the hitherto dominant category of buyers, that is, people who have retired or are close to retirement, aged over 55.
“A Dutch computer programmer from Amsterdam recently bought a villa in Palairos, on the western coast of Greece. He paid most of the amount with profits he made from cryptocurrencies. The buyer is only 35 years old,” says Giorgos Gavriilidis. He is the founder and CEO of Elxis, a company that specializes in the holiday home sector and operates in the European market, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The Elxis analysis of sales figures clearly shows a significant increase in the number of people from the 35-55 age group investing in holiday homes in Greece.
“Often these are young entrepreneurs who have already taken their first steps in real estate investment in their own country and are now looking for investment opportunities in other European countries,” Gavriilidis explains. They know Greece from one or two holiday visits they happened to make at some point.
According to him, these buyers make purchases more with the mind than with the heart. “Their goal is to place their money in an investment that should pay off, but also offering the option of personal use, without this always being a prerequisite,” he notes.
He goes on to note that in many countries, when someone buys a villa for the purpose of utilization, they have to rent it out for the entire tourism season. On the contrary, in Greece this is not mandatory, since the owner can choose the dates they will use their holiday home for themselves and rent it out for the rest of the time, using short-term rental digital platforms. This is precisely the comparative advantage offered by the Greek market.
