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21-August-2008
Award-winning Property Investment Ticks All the Boxes
Overseas property investment specialist, Obelisk, has a passion for excellence and the company’s determination to offer superior standards and high professionalism at all stages of property investment has reaped its rewards.
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Property Investment in Greece 2008
A growing economy, increasing tourism figures, improved infrastructure and massive regeneration investment carried out during the preparation for the 2004 Olympics, is why Greece is heading to be one of the strong real estate markets of the Mediterranean.
The massive growth in the tourism industry, as a result of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, has continued and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Greece will succeed in its aim to become one of the world's top five tourist destinations within the next ten years.
According to the Greek National Statistics Office, tourist numbers increased by 8.63% in 2006, reaching 16,039,216 million foreign tourist arrivals and this trend is expected to continue into the 2007-2008 period. The World Travel and Tourism Committee projects the tourism industry will generate €39.8 billion of economic activity in 2007, rising to €74.8 billion in 2017. In the same period the Travel & Tourism contribution to the economy is anticipated to rise from 16.4% to 17.2%.
"According to latest figures, property prices have increased year-on-year by 7% in the first quarter of 2007."
Greece has a GDP per capita equal to at least 75% of the leading European economies and continues to compete favourably; wages are rising, unemployment is falling and thus GDP growth is performing strongly. The service sector, which includes the burgeoning tourism industry, accounts for 67% of GDP and 58% of employment.
Athens is a particular hotspot for buy-to-let properties, with UK buyers accounting for a massive 80% of Greece's foreign property purchasers, who are attracted by low property prices, a strong mortgage market, a modernised tax system and measures that prevent overdevelopment. The influential property magazine 'A Place In The Sun' found that Greece was the sixth most favourable destination for foreign buyers, hardly surprising when house prices increased by 134% between 1995 and 2004.
According to latest figures, property prices have increased year-on-year by 7% in the first quarter of 2007; prices for apartments in Athens increased by 12% with an average price growth of 15% for all properties in other major cities.
Greece's real estate market compares favourably with other Mediterranean countries and is subject to significant growth. The Institute for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) has recognised that the bullish property market in Greece has made a significant contribution to the country's economic growth in the last decade, which can only bode well for property investment in Greece and its continued high performance.
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