Good morning everyone,

I hope you are all well.

The tourist season is now officially approaching its peak, and the first signs (departures) are quite encouraging on one hand, but problematic in terms of turnover on the other. As you may have noticed, I often refer to tourism because, aside from being one of the most essential pillars of our economy (fortunately or unfortunately), it seems to have a direct impact on the real estate market.

As I was preparing for the lesson at the IEK AKMH Real Estate seminar by Ellika, I came across a statistic that troubled me. More than 60% of the transfers in 2022 were related to abroad. Clearly, the Golden Visa program has a significant part in this; however, I am not sure if it is sufficient to provide the necessary boost that the market needs.

Areas that have international recognition (such as the Coastal Front of Attica & Elliniko Project, Mykonos, Santorini, etc. are very reasonable and expected to attract markets/investments from abroad. However, the prices in these areas have recorded an increase that does not follow the course of the Greek economy and drag the prices in other areas or serve as a basis. The development in the real estate sector, in my opinion, should be more linear, but it's a utopia for the real estate market in all countries/economies.

You can read a statistic on the real estate trend here, and also, another statistic is this, but I would like to comment on some of the results:

• Firstly, the statistic has incorporated the market trend up to the first quarter of 2023, so we will have more comprehensive results from September.

• I cannot know the statistical range (the absence of official statistics is a problem that I hope will change).

• In the northern suburbs, we have an 8% decrease in sales and a 15% decrease in the east and a 6% decrease in the west.

• In the center of Athens, we have an increase of 22% (very impressive).

• However, in the southern suburbs, the increase is only 4%, which I expected to be higher.

• the average value of interest has shifted from 100,000 to 200,000 euros

Once again, when we depict the real estate market in statistics, the picture we have changes (it is one of the elements that I love so much in this field). I feel that the real estate market still has room for further growth, and the demand remains stable. Of course, the location factor will always influence.

However, we cannot ignore the data from Europe. Germany has already shown a decrease in property values by 6.8%, mainly due to high interest rates. You can read the relevant article in the Financial Times here.

We could start a big discussion/comparison of the Greek and German real estate markets, but the present email/analysis would not be enough. I will suffice to mention that, of course, there are structural changes, but the (European) economy significantly determines or rather greatly influences the dynamics of the properties. We cannot predict the future, but we can contemplate.

As we have all felt the summer/holidays approaching, I do not want to tire you more with my concerns/analyses.

In August, I will not upload an analysis/course of the real estate market, and the reason is not the holidays, but I am preparing something more comprehensive (apart from the seminars and analyses) that will be announced at the beginning of autumn, and I need to continue and complete this effort of mine (unfortunately, I do not want/cannot say more at this stage).

Finally, during the summer, I would like to present to you in this link a ground-floor apartment with a sea view for sale in the area of Saronida, which has some special features:

• It can function as both a permanent residence and a holiday home as well as a 'weekend' home.

• It has exploitation possibilities through short-term or long-term rentals with a yield of over 5%.

• Over a five-year period, I predict that it will have a significant appreciation in resale value.

  In conclusion, I would like to wish you all a good holiday, mental and physical relaxation, and to enjoy the family moments with your loved ones as (in my opinion) this is the most important thing in life.

Have a great summer.

Vasilis Asteriadis