Strong “resistance” to the continuing uptrend in interest rates is forecast for Greek housing market President of the National Bank Gikas Harduvelis. Speaking of recent TOMATO conference, Mr. Harduvelis noted that “the Greek market is different from the rest of Europe. Those who buy do not do it on credit. In contrast, 80% of home purchases are made entirely with equity. Borrowing has increased but remains much lower than it was in the 2000s when it peaked.”

According to Mr. Harduvelis, the above element also indicates that the real estate market has prospects for even greater growth, given the low leverage. At the same time, the Greek market is in great demand from abroad. “Only in the last few years, we have had an inflow of 8 billion euros of foreign capital for the acquisition of real estate, resulting in 40% of FDI exclusively in real estate,” said Mr. Harduvelis.

At the same time, the Greek economy is different from the rest of Europe because it is in a different phase than the rest of Europe. “The Greek economy remains on an upward trajectory and we expect this to continue. Ministry of Finance forecasts point to GDP growth of around 2% this year, while economies in the rest of the EU are in crisis. they may even show a recession, or around 0%,” he said. In addition, according to him, an increase in the country’s valuation is also expected, since Greece could enter the investment rating. This prospect has served as an incentive for investment and, therefore, also for the real estate market, which has benefited in recent years from tax cuts (eg 24% VAT suspension for new properties, 35% cumulative reduction of ENFIA, etc. etc.).

A small percentage of purchases are made in a mortgage, emphasizes the president of the NBG. 80% is carried out exclusively at the expense of own capital.

On the other hand, Mr. Harduvelis also stressed the need for the recovery in housing prices not to be as abrupt as it is now. After rising over the past five years, “prices are about 20% off their previous high.

However, the current international environment means that prices will not rise at the same rate. Of course, while prices in Greece were falling, they were rising in other countries, and today the opposite is happening again, that is, prices are rising in Greece and falling in most countries due to restrictive monetary policy.