The housing crisis is rapidly becoming one of the most pressing everyday challenges facing thousands of citizens — particularly young people, students, and workers searching for a place to live. With rents recording continuous increases in recent years, finding a decent and affordable home has started to feel like an almost impossible mission.
As part of its “For the Record” street poll series, parapolitika.gr took to the streets and asked citizens a simple but telling question: “When was the last time you saw a rental listing and your blood pressure didn’t spike?” The answers we received painted, in the most vivid terms, the reality that thousands of renters face every single day.
Rents: “I want to move, but the prices are through the roof”
The overwhelming majority of citizens expressed deep frustration with the prices they now encounter in property listings. “It’s been a very long time,” one citizen replied, while another was even more blunt: “I can’t even remember.”
Many noted that the situation has deteriorated significantly over recent years. “More than five years for sure. Rental prices have skyrocketed,” one participant remarked. Others described the difficulty of finding housing in more personal terms. “I want to move, but the prices are through the roof. I’m completely done,” said one young man, voicing the anxiety felt by thousands of renters. Particularly striking was the comment from a citizen who had recently visited an available property: “Three days ago I looked at a place. You’re trying to live in a hole and they want €400 a month for it.”
@parapolitika 🏠💶 €650 for 25 sq.m. because it’s near the metro… When was the last time you saw a rental listing and your blood pressure didn’t spike? Manos Anthoulakas takes to the streets to ask citizens their thoughts on the cost of renting. 🎤 Manos Anthoulakas 🎥 Panos Petritis #parapolitika #ενοικια #σπιτι #rent #gallop ♬ original sound – Parapolitika.gr
The housing crisis is becoming an intergenerational social crisis
This widening of the problem is reflected in the “TRENDS” survey conducted by MRB Hellas in July 2026, based on a nationwide sample of 2,000 citizens. According to the findings, housing has now firmly established itself among the top concerns of Greek society, confirming that it represents one of the most serious social challenges of the current period.
The survey places housing in fifth position among the most significant problems facing the country, with a rate of 17.1%. Issues ranking above it include the cost of living and inflation, healthcare, low wages, and corruption, while unemployment, education, crime, and demographic decline rank lower. The social weight of the problem is reflected even more clearly in the individual responses. A striking 92.5% of participants describe the housing situation as “very” or “quite” serious, while 64.4% consider it a particularly acute issue. By contrast, just 5.8% believe the situation has not yet reached alarming proportions. Housing also ranks among the key areas in which citizens are calling for more meaningful government intervention to address the high cost of living.
While one might expect younger age groups to show the greatest concern, the results reveal that the problem has taken on a strongly intergenerational character. Citizens over the age of 60 record the highest level of concern, reaching 96%. They are followed by Generation X, aged 44 to 59, at 94.7%; Generation Y, aged 28 to 43, at 90.9%; and Generation Z, aged 17 to 27, at 81.5%. This picture does not mean that young people face fewer difficulties. On the contrary, it shows that the housing crisis has ceased to be exclusively their concern and has transformed into an anxiety shared by entire families. Older generations are watching their children struggle to gain independence, find a rental property, or purchase a home of their own.
Foreign buyers and Airbnb in the spotlight
When asked about the causes behind the surge in prices, 45.9% of citizens point to increased demand from foreign buyers as the primary factor. Short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, follow at 41.1%. Tax policy ranks lower at 27.4%, while limited new building permits come in at 21.1%. The data suggests that public opinion perceives the housing crisis primarily as the result of market-side pressures on the housing supply, rather than as a consequence of isolated institutional or fiscal policy choices.
The responses do, however, vary by gender and age group. Men more frequently attribute rising prices to foreign buyers and short-term rentals, while women place greater emphasis on taxation, economic uncertainty, and the increased cost of construction. Among the 35-to-54 age group, Airbnb attracts particularly high rates of blame. In the 45-to-54 age bracket, it reaches 46.4% — the highest figure across all age groups. Among citizens over 65, however, different explanations dominate: inflation leads at 43.1%, followed by construction costs at 40.6% and speculation at 39.5%, with short-term rentals seen as a less decisive factor.
Especially revealing are the responses from those who rank housing among the three most serious problems facing the country. Within this group, short-term rentals move into first place as a cause, cited by 48.9%, while foreign buyers follow at 42.8%. This finding highlights that the more directly a citizen experiences the consequences of the housing crisis, the more they tend to believe that the spread of short-term rentals has reduced the available housing supply and disrupted market equilibrium.
Government measures receive a failing grade
Skepticism about the effectiveness of measures implemented to date is near-universal. Some 66.9% of respondents believe that government policies are heading in the wrong direction, while just 21.1% consider them to be on the right track.
The greatest dissatisfaction is recorded among Generation Y — citizens aged 28 to 43 — who are most frequently in the process of searching for, renting, or purchasing their first home. Within this age group, the rate of negative assessment reaches 71.9%.
The key takeaway from the survey is that the housing crisis has now become a problem that cuts across society as a whole. Citizens may prioritize its causes differently, but they converge on two core conclusions: access to affordable housing is becoming increasingly difficult, and the policies implemented so far have failed to reverse the upward trajectory of prices.
