Housing prices dip up to 10 percent in first half
Residential property prices in the first six months of the year fell by an average of 4 to 10 percent, according to Aspis Real Estate, which described the market as «frozen» due to poor investor sentiment. Prices of older properties in central Athens – with an average age of 20 years – saw the biggest drop, falling 10 percent, while the price of newly built properties in the northern suburbs showed the most resilience, dropping 4 percent. Aspis Real Estate managing director Daniil Psomiadis said in a statement that the «necessary conditions for the market to rebound are an improvement in buyer sentiment, an increase in the flow of money from credit institutions and the normalization of the economic climate.» In the southern suburbs, prices fell by an average of between 6 to 8 percent, depending on the age of the property, while prices in the western suburbs retreated by an across-the-board 8 percent. According to experts, the real estate market is not seen as rebounding until the second half of 2011, due to the large number of unsold homes that flooded the market before the economy started contracting in 2009. Low leveraging among property developers has allowed them to avoid slashing prices despite plunging demand. Psomiadis also said that price drops and the deregulation of Greece’s closed professions, such as notaries, will help lower costs for buyers, and provide the market with a growth factor. The Socialist government is expected to introduce legislation in the fall, opening up several state-regulated professions,such as pharmacists and engineers, to market conditions.
