Rents have shot up in Athens. What does this mean for Greek households?

Over the last years housing costs – particularly rents – have shot up across the Athens area, with some rents jumping as high as 55% since 2017.

The share of people in Greece who are overburdened with housing costs is rising, and nearly three quarters of tenants in Greece now spend over 40% of their monthly income on rent. This is quickly becoming a top priority for the government as well, which is looking for ways to bring down costs.

Nikos Roussanoglou, a journalist with 23 years of experience at Kathimerini covering the economy, with a focus that includes Greece’s business environment, technology, and housing market, joins Thanos Davelis to look at why rents have shot up and what this means for average Greeks.