As the Greek economy continues to rebuild itself and rise from the so-called Greek depression, more and more foreign investors are coming to the ancient city. Athens-based associate at global property firm Savills Alexandros Moulas, says that more and more realty investors coming mostly from Europe, Middle East and Asia are eyeing for the island villas in Greece. A surge of queries was highly observed regarding the picturesque vacation homes on the famous Greek islands like Mykonos and Santorini.
Though the queries have not yet translated to sales, rough calculation suggests that buyers would have to pay at least half a million euros ($552,000) to 1 million euros ($1.1 million) for a Greek island vacation home having 3-bedrooms, pool and a scenic ocean view.
For investors wanting to exercise more of their bargaining power amidst the economic tribulation, George Eliades, managing partner of Algean Property, advised that they should be targeting remote and less popular island villas for a better price. Popular spots such as the Villas on Porto Heli have an estimated value of $9.4 million, while properties on Mykonos would be around 15.5 million. Another way of approach would be to choose areas around the mainland, prices of the properties are considerably low and the time and effort for the search of villas within mainland would not be that be consuming.
Caveat Emptor, latin phrase for "let the buyer beware", that they may face a devaluation of property if the Greece government would opt to drop the use of euro as the country's currency in favor of old Drachma currency. A property tax hike could be exercised to boost the needed revenues of the country, thus affecting the investments the investors would be ushering in. Foreign investors should likewise be on the lookout for the possible worsening of the economic and social problems as the country continues to battle the government-debt crisis.
However, for those who are hesitant to invest perhaps the words of Stratos Paradias, President of the Hellenic Property Federation, would be of enlightenment. In brief, he stated that right now Greece is a "buyers market... you never know when the bottom is, you find out where the bottom is when it's gone."
