Off-plan residential purchases gain ground
The Greek holiday home market has retained its upward momentum so far in 2023, unfazed by uncertainties in the global economy’s prospects, according to the latest quarterly analysis from Elxis, an expert realtor in the holiday homes market. Among the trends Elxis has identified is the rise in preference toward offplan purchases of residential projects. Many of these are offered in combination with property and rental management services – i.e. as a complete investment product. This is very appealing to many interested foreign investors, who are looking for solid returns on their investment in the property market. On average, an off-plan acquisition is 20% lower in cost than a fully built house. Besides, newly built homes offer a much larger return in the short term, as they can be rented out for a higher fee compared to a similar used house. The market’s other main trends, per Exis, are that the overall value of residences sold this year rose by 4%, the number of transactions grew by 10% year-on-year, the average sale price per property retreated by 12%, the majority of sales during the first quarter of 2023 were off-plan properties, 17.4% of Elxis’ customers bought properties to gain access to the Golden Visa program in Greece, mainly those coming from the UK, and the most popular location was Crete, followed by the Ionian.
Terkenlis-Cyprus. After operating in Cyprus for four years, Greek confectionery chain Terkenlis has made the decision to close its doors there. Over the past two weeks, the company has ceased operations and deactivated its social media presence. The specific reasons behind the closure are unknown, leaving uncertainty regarding the company’s future actions within the Cypriot market.
Turkey-economic program. Days before Turkey’s runoff presidential election, there is disagreement and uncertainty within Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government over whether to stick with what some call an unsustainable economic program or to abandon it, insiders say. According to interviews with nine sources, either government officials or others with direct knowledge of the matter, an informal group of ruling-party members have gathered in recent weeks to discuss how it might adopt a new policy of gradual interest rate hikes and a targeted lending program. Erdogan is not directly involved in the talks, which include some AK Party members who are outside the administration but held senior positions in the past, four of the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss the private meetings. On the other side are officials and cabinet members who publicly state they want to stick with the current program of boosting exports and economic growth via rate cuts and heavily managed forex, credit and debt markets. Given Erdogan led after the initial vote, much is at stake for the major emerging market economy that has been gripped by a cost-of-living crisis and series of currency crashes.