Glyfada is the number one target for foreign property-buyers in Greece, ahead of Thessaloniki’s city center, where there are significant investment opportunities in terms of apartments for those planning on listing them on short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com.

The above data come from the Spitogatos property website’s processing of web searches over the course of 2019, which also showed that Glyfada and Thessaloniki are followed by Santorini, Rhodes and the Kolonaki-Lycabettus area of central Athens. The top 10 in Greek locations in high demand by foreigners is completed by Paros, Thermaikos in Thessaloniki, the center of Athens, Mykonos and Kavala.

It has become clear that buyers driven by the Golden Visa residence permit program constitute a dominant group that determines demand to a great extent in the property market. A large share of those people look for houses in the southern suburbs of Athens, while those interested in acquiring a holiday home – either for their own use or to lease out – invest in the most popular islands of the Cyclades – i.e. Santorini, Paros and Mykonos.

On the other hand, demand for properties in the center of Athens seems to have declined among foreign buyers; this is attributed to the steep rise in prices that has diminished investment opportunities. After all, a large portion of foreign investors are interested in future capital gains from reselling their assets.

A recent analysis by Spitogatos also found that the bulk of demand comes from Americans, Germans and Britons, followed by Dutch and Chinese property-hunters. Other major groups of interested buyers are the French, Australians, Swedes, Bulgarians and Canadians.

US citizens are the most active in showing an interest, and they mainly seek out properties on Santorini, in Glyfada and on Mykonos. The Germans are mostly interested in Macedonia, focusing on the center of Thessaloniki, nearby Kalamaria and Kavala. Britons, on the other hand, prefer Rhodes, and Glyfada and Kolonaki in Athens.

This article was originally published at ekathimerini.com.