Property market gap widens | eKathimerini.com
Three years have passed since the last setting of properties’ taxable rates (known as objective values) and already in some districts of the capital, but also in areas popular with tourists, the difference with the commercial sales prices is chaotic.
That is according to data from the Property Transfer Register, with sales in the first five months of the year topping 85,000 and 2024 set for record sales (178,000 in 2023). Despite the increase in prices nationwide, demand is holding up well, with the gap between objective and commercial values having opened considerably. Whether it is parking spaces, apartments or commercial premises, contract prices are moving significantly above the zone prices set in June 2021.
The biggest differences are found mainly in the popular areas of the center of Athens and the southern and northern suburbs of the capital. For example, a first-floor apartment of 153 square meters in Kifissia was purchased at the price of 672,301 euros, or €4,394 /sq.m., when the objective value in the area in question amounts to €2,000/sq.m. That property’s selling price was 119% higher than the objective value.
Another first-floor apartment in Kifissia, of 208.5 sq.m., was sold for €600,000 or €2,878/sq.m., when the area’s zone rate is €1,650/sq.m. Likewise a third-floor flat of 57 sq.m. in Kolonaki, with an objective value of €242,250, was sold for €330,000.
Based on the data of the register, the Municipality of Athens holds the lead in real estate sales, as in the year to end-May, 2,279 properties changed hands, with the prices listed in the contracts significantly higher than the objective values.
For example, a sixth-floor apartment of 85.10 sq.m. was sold in Athens for €375,000, or €4,406/sq.m., when the local zone price is €2,750/sq.m. The sale price was 60% higher than the objective value. In Mets a 102.18 sq.m. apartment with an objective value of €235,000 was sold for €390,000.
