Property unfazed by Covid-19
Residential property prices remained on a growth path over the first quarter of the year, as the housing market appears to be emerging from the pandemic largely unscathed.
In the January-March 2021 period the sale prices of newly built houses and apartments recorded an annual increase of 1.85%, while those of older apartments grew 2.25% from the first quarter of 2020, per the data processed by the Apartment Value Observatory of Geoaxis Property & Valuation Services.
Data from five representative districts in Athens (Holargos, Ambelokipi, Maroussi, Peristeri and Palaio Faliro) show that among new-builds, the biggest increase was seen in Peristeri (up 2.77%), reaching a rate of 1,520 euros per square meter.
This is followed by the 2.5% increase in Maroussi to €2,000/ sq.m., 1.9% growth in Ambelokipi to €1,820/sq.m., a 1.23% advance in Palaio Faliro to €2,220/ sq.m. and a 0.9% expansion in Holargos to €2,590/sq.m.
Among older apartments (aged over 15 years), the survey recorded a considerable 4.5% increase in Holargos for a rate of €1,370/sq.m., ahead of Palaio Faliro’s 4% growth to €1,125/ sq.m. and Peristeri’s 1.55% rise to €910/sq.m. Ambelokipi and Maroussi recorded smaller increases.
Even so, rates remain below those in 2013, but have just overtaken those of 2014, showing that the price drop of the last few years is starting to turn around.
Geoaxis founder and director Yiannis Xylas writes in his analysis that “the apartments market has shown remarkable resilience, illustrating that the pandemic and its effects have actually benefited the sector. The stabilizing trend of the previous year has now shifted toward a growth trend across all five monitored districts, with the average growth in potential sale prices above 2% on average.”
He adds that “we believe the current recovery of the apartments market will continue unabated over the next few months, with greater intensity in rented property, older, larger and decentralized apartments,” pointing to the need for larger apartments to satisfy the growing requirements of people working from home.