Housing is one of the major problems facing our country – and not only ours. Recently in distant New York, 34-year-old Zoran Mamdani was elected mayor with “affordable housing” as his main campaign promise and specific commitments in his electoral program. In the months before the Thessaloniki International Fair, the staff of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Ministry of Finance worked feverishly to finalize the exact framework of tax relief, with reductions in direct taxes. Meanwhile, a series of housing programs were being implemented, some of which proved successful while others had low response rates. Immediately after TIF and the announcements about tax rate reductions, redesigning housing policy and enriching it with new “tools” became the first priority.
Parapolitika vindicated – reference to housing and rent issues immediately after TIF
As Parapolitika wrote the very next Saturday after TIF, on September 13: “Next stop: Rents. The prime minister’s announcements at the Thessaloniki International Fair may still be fresh and most measures may not even have been implemented yet, however Kyriakos Mitsotakis already has some basic thoughts about new “packages” of citizen relief. The first indications converge that the rent issue is in the foreground and, if specific conditions are met, it will be what comes to the forefront when the time comes for new announcements.” As we noted in the same report, there is a “window for announcing measures and this is during the discussion of the 2026 Budget in Parliament’s plenary session in December, provided that revenue over-performance for this year is confirmed above expectations.”
The 6 measures to increase property supply
The time has come, and in Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ speech on Tuesday during the Budget discussion, housing essentially constituted a separate chapter, with six additional measures to increase property supply:
1. Home renovation program, which will cover up to 90% of the expense, with a total of 400,000,000 euros for upgrading old closed properties with subsidies up to 36,000 euros. Income limit is set at 35,000 euros for a couple, with an increase of 5,000 for each child.
2. A cumulative 50,000 teachers, nurses and doctors outside the urban centers of Attica and Thessaloniki will receive two annual rent refunds, regardless of their income. We remind that from this November and every year thereafter, one annual rent refund for primary and student residence is returned, with income and property criteria.
3. Local upgrade plans for municipal and state buildings in mountainous and island areas for housing for civil servants.
4. New restrictions on short-term rentals, Airbnb-type: Current regulations are extended to central Thessaloniki. Additionally, in Athens and Thessaloniki, where short-term rental is prohibited when such a property is transferred, it will be automatically deleted from the Short-term Accommodation Property Registry.
5. New incentive framework for private investments in affordable housing: Construction companies will be able to build apartments or convert existing buildings into residences exclusively for rental of at least ten years. If they do this, rents will be deductible from income tax and the maximum rent limit will be determined centrally.
6. Urban planning regulation from the Ministry of Environment and Energy for the rapid conversion of existing properties to residential use. Abandoned or unfinished buildings will be included in the private investment category, with tax deduction incentives.
Mitsotakis’ messages to the opposition
Regarding the prime minister’s overall position in Parliament, his associates decode the messages he attempted to send into three basic points: First, that the entire philosophy of the Budget comes and builds upon supporting disposable income as a real bulwark against inflation. Second, that “We Stay in Europe” has been reversed, with Europe now saying “We Become Greece.” And third, that Greece’s victory in the Eurogroup represents the sacrifices of society to move from stagnation to prosperity and vindicates a six-year policy of planning, work and results, against the miserable opposition of catastrophism and nihilism, as Mr. Mitsotakis emphasized.
