17 November 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Athens has become one of Europe's hottest housing markets, with apartments in what was once a rundown industrial district now on par with wealthier European cities and luxury developments popping up along its coastline.
Home prices in the Greek capital have climbed 12.2% in October, nearly triple the gains in Stockholm and bucking declines in cities including Paris, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The surge has been driven in part by the long, slow fallout of Greece's debt crisis. Hundreds of thousands of homes are caught up in legal entanglements, thinning the market and driving up prices in Athens faster than any other major European city.
While the end of the cheap-money era has hit buying power across Europe, a lack of housing is gaining the upper hand in more cities. London, Paris and Berlin recorded year-on-year declines in their latest monthly figures, but the bulk of markets monitored by the Bloomberg City Tracker are rising, with Milan, Madrid and Stockholm posting increases of more than 3%.
To capture the latest housing-market trends in European cities, Bloomberg compiles figures from a range of providers. Some are asking rates and indicative levels, while others are official figures on transactions. Athens prices are derived from an index from Spitogatos, which Bloomberg used to calculate monthly asking prices in the five areas of the city and then averaged those levels to create a citywide value.
Greece's decade-long debt crisis left lenders with €107 billion of soured debt in 2016. Since then, banks have sold bad loans, but with many backed by properties, that collateral has been caught up in efforts to reach payment deals with debtors. While the homes could eventually hit the auction block, the negotiations are...
