Important investment prospects collected real estate market Attica for 2023, according to the forecasts of foreign and domestic institutional investors who took part in the latest annual survey New real estate trends carried out PVC on his account Urban Lands Institute (ULI).

“Attica has significant prospects for future growth in investment property values ​​as well as rents,” though it remains 23rd in the pan-European ranking of 30 cities, unchanged from last year, according to this year’s survey. . Considering that since last year the ranking is based on the size of each market, the position of Athens is considered satisfactory.

As one survey participant, a real estate investment fund manager, notes, “Due to the prolonged recession, there is still a lack of modern building stock. There has been some new construction of office buildings and shopping malls over the past 10 years, but investment opportunities still exist.”

The ESG criteria require the modernization of existing buildings, especially in the Greek market, where there is a lack of modern bioclimatic properties.

According to Mr. Tasso Kotzanastasi, an executive member of ULI’s global steering committee and managing director of international real estate investment management company 8G Group, “There is clearly a lot of pessimism in the short term about the outlook for the property market in 2023, especially at the pan-European level. . Rising interest rates, declining investment property values ​​and a lack of liquidity have weighed on investor sentiment.”

However, in the medium term, clear trends began to take shape both inside and outside Greece, where the ESG criteria became a “driving force”. “There are not many buildings in Greece that meet the ESG criteria, which will make them obsolete unless significant investments are made in their energy and functional upgrades in the coming years. Investors prefer to buy existing properties and refurbish them rather than build new buildings.” Mr. Kotzanastasis reports to “K”.. As he explains, refurbishment is certainly a more sustainable solution, as it limits the carbon footprint and the burden on the environment in general. However, the financial aspect is even more important, as many investors are now avoiding new buildings due to the high cost of construction from the revaluation of materials, which has now become a very important factor for such investments. In this context, according to a PwC survey, 62% of respondents indicated that the purchase and renovation of an existing building is the preferred option for acquiring new property.

Accordingly, the current focus is also on changing the use of existing buildings. According to the findings of the survey, 54% of real estate purchased last year by investment funds changed their purpose. In offices, the most popular option with 64% is their conversion to living quarters, followed by their conversion to mixed-use buildings with 18%. Accordingly, in shopping malls or parks, the most popular option with 33% is to convert them into mixed-use buildings, followed by residential buildings at 26% and logistics at 18%.