by Nikos Roussanoglou

The international jet set is expected to take a particular interest in the Greek luxury holiday home market this summer.

Estate agents who specialize in this specific category of buyers and properties told Kathimerini that 2018 is already the best year since the outbreak of the financial crisis, as there is a widespread belief among candidate buyers that Greece’s economy and its property market “is past the worst.”

Yiannis Ploumis, director general at the Ploumis Sotiropoulos estate agency which represents Christie’s in Greece, says “we are recording many more transactions of luxury properties compared to previous years, a clear sign of a market rebound. This year both the volume and the value of transactions are showing a rise of up to 100 percent from 2017.”

Sale prices may have dropped in this category but at a lower rate than in the rest of the real estate market. While luxury holiday home prices sustained a 15-20 percent decline since 2008, the average rate of the overall market stood at 45 to 60 percent. The market of Mykonos, in particular, saw no drop at all, being a genuinely international market.

“We already had an indication about the strength of this year’s demand from the winter months,” says Savvas Savvaidis, chief executive at Greece Sotheby’s International Realty. “Most buyers have come to Greece before, but 20 percent of buyers acquire a property upon their first visit,” he notes.

This article was first published by ekathimerini.com