Athenian Riviera

Greece Sotheby's International Realty has published its second market report for the luxury real estate market in 2023, adding in qualitative industry analyses from 8 other regional offices of the Sotheby's International Realty network in the Mediterranean.

According to the data, for the first time in 2023, the Athenian Riviera surpassed Mykonos in demand, recording a 25.8% increase in demand requests from buyers. Overall, though, Corfu saw the most demand this year, followed by the Athenian Riviera and Mykonos, with Athens and Paros proving the fourth and fifth most popular locations respectively.

Demand for properties across Greece remained high in Q1 2023, seeing an upward trajectory in both demand requests and on-site real estate indications. However, the corresponding index was slightly lower at 12.2% compared to 13% at the same time in 2022.

The report suggests that this may be attributable to buyers who have become stricter in their criteria for properties, in contrast to the more flexible attitude of buyers during the pandemic period. There is also a decrease in the stock of ‘unique homes’ after three years of high trading volumes, especially in relation to beachfront homes.

Furthermore, the ‘conversion’ rate slightly improved in the first half of 2023, with 8.6% of indications resulting in a contract, compared to 7.2% in the same period last year. The above figures are far from the performance of the first half of 2021, where the corresponding index reached 14.1%.

Savvas Savvaidis, president and CEO of Greece Sotheby's International Realty, notes: “As far as the Greek market is concerned, the data documents in the most concrete way that we are in a period of "selective buyers ". Looking coolly and macroscopically at the 2020-2022 market, it is confirmed that many purchase decisions were accelerated and came much further ahead in time. Buyers looking to position themselves in 2023-2025 made more immediate decisions given the broader macroeconomic context.”

“Having a clear picture of the first half of the financial year, we can confidently say that interest is there and it is strong; however, sales are closing for the properties that meet all the criteria of discerning buyers: Sea front properties, properties in the - now autonomous - Athenian destination, properties in truly unique locations on the islands or mainland Greece. The above conclusions are also confirmed by the relevant qualitative analyses carried out by our office in eight other regional offices of the Sotheby's International Realty network in the Mediterranean, implementing for the first time a technocratic approach of this magnitude for the behavioural patterns of High Net Worth Individuals - HNWI).”