Rebound in foreign holiday home buyers
The holiday home market is trying to regain the momentum of previous years, and particularly in 2013-14, through the reactivation of foreign buyers after a barren 2015 marked by prevailing political and financial uncertainty.
The latest figures by the Bank of Greece for the first seven months of the year show that the net inflow of capital from abroad for the acquisition of properties in Greece increased 16 percent on an annual basis, exceeding 115 million euros.
The net flow of foreign capital has returned to positive territory even though in the first quarter of the year it had recorded a 14.4 percent decline from Q1 of 2015, as investment declined to 42 million from 49 million euros a year earlier.
In total, 2015 saw just 160 million euros invested, which constituted an annual decline of 36 percent from the 250 million invested in 2014. In 2013 168 million was spent and in 2012 113 million. The yearly rise in 2013 came to 57.5 percent and in 2014 to 50 percent, pointing to a growing interest abroad for holiday homes that have recorded a nosedive in prices since the onset of the financial crisis.
Research by estate agents has shown that the average price decline across the country since 2008 has come to 50 percent, while the stock of unsold holiday homes is estimated at 50,000-60,000 properties.
This year, Algean Properties is reporting a 20 percent increase in holiday home transactions on Myconos, Santorini, Paros, Elounda (on Crete) and Corfu, which explains the reversal in capital flow from 2015.
