As the new academic year approaches and thousands of first-year students prepare for one of the most significant chapters of their lives, finding student housing has become one of the biggest headaches for students and their families alike. Parapolitika.gr and the “Για Πες” (“Tell Me”) segment headed to Rethymno — one of Greece’s most important university towns — and spoke with young people who are studying or have studied in the city, asking a question that becomes more pressing every August: just how much does a decent student apartment actually cost?
Read also: Rents out of control: What citizens say about the housing crisis in the parapolitika.gr poll
The responses painted a strikingly consistent picture. High rents, limited options, small apartments, and a rental market heavily influenced by the city’s tourism industry — these were the defining features of today’s housing landscape, according to those surveyed.
@parapolitika 🎓 Tell me… What’s going on in Rethymno with rents and student housing? 🏠 🎙Manos Anthoulakis @anthoulakism #parapolitikagr #rents #Crete #Rethymno
Student housing in Rethymno: “For something decent, you’re looking at at least €350–€400”
A strong sense that the rental market has changed dramatically in just a few years ran through nearly every response. One former student recalled that six or seven years ago, prices were roughly €100 lower, joking that today “you’d be lucky to find a storage room” to live in. Another respondent put the threshold for a decent rental property at €350–€400 per month — and clarified that this doesn’t even mean the city center, but areas slightly on the outskirts.
Even more telling was the experience of one young person who described his search using the word “holes” — small or poorly maintained properties being offered at disproportionately high rents. He also mentioned rent increases mid-tenancy and cases of landlords requesting part of the payment off the books, undeclared. Another response brought to light one of the more unusual realities of tourist university towns: students being asked to vacate their apartments during the summer months while the properties are rented out to tourists, only to begin the search for housing all over again come September. “From the moment university admission results are announced, you start flat-hunting — and you might end up finding places going for up to €600,” was another telling response.
Among the most expensive university towns in Greece
The testimonies gathered by “Για Πες” largely align with the picture emerging from the latest real estate market data. According to figures from Spitogatos Insights for the second quarter of 2026, the average asking rent for student accommodation rose by 5.3% nationwide over the course of a year. In Rethymno, however, the increase reached 10%, with the average asking price reaching €13.2 per square metre. This performance places the city third among the most expensive university towns tracked in the data, behind only Corfu (€13.4/m²) and Rhodes (€13.3/m²).
The picture is made even sharper by recent local market data, which shows that in Rethymno, asking prices for a two-room apartment can reach as high as €800 per month, as surging demand collides with a severely limited supply of available rentals. This dual pressure was precisely what participants in the street poll described. As one noted, Rethymno has a large student population while simultaneously being an exceptionally popular tourist destination. Another was even more blunt: “Way too expensive, unfortunately. It’s all Airbnb,” estimating that even for an apartment of around 25 square metres, the search can start from €350–€400.
Housing pressure on young people is now measurable at a European level
The issue, however, extends far beyond the borders of Rethymno or student accommodation alone. The latest European data reveals a deeper affordable housing crisis affecting young people across Greece. According to Eurostat, in 2024, 30.3% of young people aged 15–29 in Greece were living in households where total housing costs exceeded 40% of disposable income. This is the highest rate in the European Union — and more than three times the EU average of 9.7%.
Looking at the population as a whole, Greek households spent an average of 36% of their disposable income on housing in 2024, compared to just 19% across the EU. Meanwhile, in Greek cities, 29% of the population was experiencing excessive housing cost burden — again the highest share among EU member states. Even more targeted is the European Commission’s latest analysis for Greece: among young people aged 20–29, housing overburden reached 31.1% in 2024, compared to 11% across the EU. The Commission links the high cost of housing to delayed household formation, greater dependence on family support, and the widening of intergenerational inequalities.
There is, of course, the student housing allowance, for which applications for the 2025–2026 academic year were accepted from 30 June to 31 July, subject to specific income and other eligibility criteria.
