Greek Property Prices Drop, Commercial Property Vacancies Rise
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Greek real-estate prices declined 7.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010 from a year earlier as the country steers through its first recession in over a decade.
Prices fell 5.4 percent in the Attica region, which includes the capital Athens, and 9.8 percent in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-biggest city, according to an e-mailed presentation by the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research and Propindex. Prices dropped 12.6 percent in the rest of Greece in the first quarter.
Apartment prices fell last year to 2006 levels, after a two-year rise, according to the presentation, which used bank estimates, including those of Greece’s three biggest lenders.
Commercial property vacancies in Athens increased 1 percentage point from the first quarter of 2009 to 17.7 percent, according to the presentation. There has been a rising trend since 2007.
The Greek economy is in its first recession since 1993 and Prime Minister George Papandreou has raised taxes, cut wages and reduced spending in a bid to tame a deficit that reached 13.6 percent of gross domestic product last year, more than four times the EU limit.
State revenue next year will be aided by a planned increase in the so-called objective values for real estate, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on July 5. Taxes on real- estate transactions in Greece are based on the government’s assessment of the property’s value, which considers the area and the amenities, rather than the actual market value, which is generally higher.
source businessweek.com
Feb 7, 2012 - 23:37
