The Greek housing market has long crossed the threshold of international attention. In recent years, it has evolved into one of the fastest-growing markets globally, with sale prices on a steep upward trajectory, leaving household incomes and affordability behind. The characteristics of a housing crisis are becoming entrenched, while social pressures are now visible across an increasingly larger portion of the population.
Greece among the most expensive housing markets: What the data shows
According to comprehensive data from the Global Property Guide, Greece ranks fifth globally in terms of cumulative housing price increases over the past decade, reaching 77%. This picture is confirmed on a shorter time scale as well. From 2022 to 2025, property prices in certain areas of Attica increased by up to 45%, with Piraeus serving as a prime example, transforming into one of the most dynamic—and expensive—market hubs. According to Redataset data, even neighborhoods that were considered affordable until recently recorded increases above 35% within the same three-year period, while household purchasing power has not followed a corresponding trajectory. Internationally, Portugal tops the ranking, where prices have soared by 226% within a decade, a development that has contributed decisively to the deep housing crisis the country faces. The Netherlands follows with a 121% increase, while the United States ranks third with a 92% rise, despite early signs of slowdown recorded recently. Japan comes fourth with 89%, while behind Greece follow Canada (76%) and Australia (70%). The top ten is completed by Germany (53%), China (49%), and France (27%).
Within the country, the pace of price increases appears to be reigniting. The “My Home II” program, activated in early 2025, functioned as an additional accelerator, boosting demand in an already constrained market. According to Bank of Greece data, housing prices in the third quarter of 2025 increased by 7.7% year-on-year nationwide. In Attica, the growth rate was 6.6%, in Thessaloniki it reached 9.6%, in other major cities 8.9%, while in the remaining areas of the country—mainly of tourist interest—it was 8.5%.
It is no coincidence that Athens is now recorded as the second most expensive city in Europe in terms of affordability for purchasing new housing. According to a Deloitte study, 15.3 annual gross salaries are required to acquire a new 70 sq.m. apartment, a performance that places it right after Amsterdam, where 15.4 salaries are required.
Social impacts of the housing crisis intensify
Meanwhile, the social impacts of the housing crisis are intensifying. As highlighted in recent research by diaNEOsis, the pressure is already apparent, as half of households with housing loans spend over 40% of their disposable income on housing. Although homeowners with housing loans represent only 7% of the population, the financial burden they bear is disproportionately high.
Indicative of the problem’s scope is the fact that in 2024, the percentage of people living in households with debts—whether for rent, housing loans, utility bills, or installment purchases—reached 42.8% in Greece, when the European average was only 9.2%. In the same year, approximately 1 in 10 Greek households showed delays in housing loan or rent payments, a figure that underscores increasing insecurity.
In this environment, the Greek real estate market appears to operate in two parallel worlds. On one side, listing prices continue to rise, maintaining the image of a market that “runs” relentlessly. On the other, in actual transactions, balances are changing, as negotiations become tougher, buyers become more cautious, and final prices, except for specific exceptions, begin to show signs of fatigue.
This gap is widened by the fact that today three different “markets” coexist: the asking prices of listings, objective values, and actual contract prices, with the divergences between them widening. Within this landscape, so-called prime properties function as a market within the market. Front-line residences in Voula and Vouliagmeni, apartments with unobstructed sea views, or unique properties with Acropolis views maintain their own dynamics, with transactions reaching or exceeding 25,000 euros per square meter. However, this represents a very limited market segment that cannot serve as an indicator for the whole.
The real impasse is found in the “mass” of properties, in apartments without special characteristics, in areas like Ano Glyfada, Nea Smyrni, Chalandri, or large parts of Athens center. There, the distance between prices and household capabilities now seems unbridgeable.
Published in the MoneyPro supplement of Parapolitika
