Greece’s Capital Region, Including Athens And Surrounding Suburbs, Registers Alarmingly High Housing Vacancy Levels Despite Ongoing Construction And Strong Tourism-driven Real Estate Development

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Greece is grappling pinch a worsening lodging crisis, not owed to tourism aliases nan short-term rental roar arsenic commonly believed, but because of nan staggering number of vacant homes dispersed crossed nan country. A caller study by nan Athens University of Economics and Business reveals that much than 2 cardinal 2 100 seventy 1000 residential units stay unoccupied—over half a cardinal of which are located successful nan Attica region alone. In Central Athens, vacancy levels person reached twenty-eight percent, while cardinal land destinations for illustration Mykonos, Paros, and Serifos study rates arsenic precocious arsenic sixty to eighty percent. Despite rising demand, municipality migration, and soaring rents, astir 1 successful 4 homes successful Attica sits empty, including thousands of recently built properties that person ne'er been lived in. The findings situation nan communicative that short-term rentals are nan superior culprit and alternatively spotlight semipermanent underuse, demographic stagnation, and a deficiency of rental incentives arsenic nan halfway causes—prompting calls for contiguous argumentation action to activate Greece’s dormant lodging stock.

Greece Grapples pinch Housing Crisis arsenic More Than Two Million Two Hundred Thousand Properties Lie Vacant, Surpassing nan Effects of Tourism and Rentals

A caller study by nan Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) is challenging long-held beliefs astir nan guidelines causes of Greece’s lodging affordability crisis. The study reveals that nan nation’s deepening lodging problems are little nan consequence of tourism aliases nan emergence of short-term rentals and much intimately tied to a acold much silent and wide issue: an bonzer number of vacant homes.

The study, titled “The Economic and Housing Impact of Short-Term Rentals successful Greece,” identifies over 2 cardinal 2 100 seventy 1000 vacant lodging units nationwide. This number is more than 3 times greater than nan full number of progressive rental tenants crossed nan country. While nationalist sermon often centers connected nan proliferation of platforms for illustration Airbnb, nan information points to a overmuch larger and under-addressed structural imbalance wrong Greece’s residential lodging system.

The Attica region — location to Athens and nan largest attraction of nan organization — is simply a cardinal portion of this lodging puzzle. Within Attica, much than five 100 thousand residential properties stay unoccupied, making up astir 24 percent of nan region’s full lodging stock. This intends astir 1 successful 4 homes successful nan superior region is empty, contempt rising demand, expanding municipality density, and soaring rents.

The arena is not confined to municipality areas alone. Popular land destinations, often perceived arsenic overwhelmed by tourism development, besides grounds unusually precocious vacancy rates. In nan Argosaronic Gulf, Kythira reports a 66 percent vacancy rate, Aegina 64 percent, Hydra 59 percent, and Poros 57 percent. These numbers bespeak that two retired of each 3 homes successful galore land municipalities stay unused for astir aliases each of nan year.

The business is likewise terrible successful nan Cycladic islands, wherever vacancy remains persistently precocious moreover successful locations that pull ample volumes of visitors. On Paros and Naxos, complete 60 percent of homes beryllium empty. On Mykonos, often considered nan crown jewel of Greek tourism, 63 percent of nan island’s homes stay uninhabited — a statistic that contradicts nan cognition of existent property scarcity.

What’s more, nan study finds that moreover caller residential building has not translated into higher occupancy. Out of 173,624 homes built successful nan past 15 years, about 40 percent stay empty. This includes over 27,000 homes constructed since 2016, galore of which person not yet housed a azygous semipermanent tenant. This reality runs antagonistic to nan presumption that proviso simply needs to summation to lick nan lodging issue.

Greece’s full lodging banal stands astatine conscionable nether 6.6 cardinal units, yet only 4.3 cardinal are occupied. That leaves a startling number of properties unused. Within flat buildings, one successful 4 individual units is empty, and for single-family homes, nan percent is often moreover higher.

In Athens, vacancy rates alteration considerably from territory to district. The metropolis halfway records a 28 percent vacancy rate, higher than nan nationalist average. However, outer suburbs specified arsenic Vrilissia (9 percent) and Agia Paraskevi (10 percent) coming little levels of unoccupied housing. Middle-tier suburbs including Piraeus (22 percent), Peristeri (19 percent), and Maroussi (16 percent) align much intimately pinch nationalist norms.

Even much striking is nan image successful nan South Aegean, 1 of nan country’s astir tourism-dependent regions. In 36 retired of 45 municipalities successful this region, more than half of each homes are vacant. On Serifos, 81 percent of lodging units are unoccupied. Similarly, Kea, Kythnos, Antiparos (all astatine 77 percent), and Kimolos (72 percent) each show terrible underuse of residential property.

These findings debunk nan oversimplified communicative that short-term rentals are nan ascendant unit down lodging inaccessibility. While nan emergence of platforms for illustration Airbnb and nan maturation of seasonal tourism accommodation do lend to pressures successful immoderate neighborhoods, nan broader rumor appears to beryllium chronic underutilization of disposable housing. Factors specified arsenic aging infrastructure, ownership complexities, inherited spot disputes, and lack of incentives to rent long-term are acold much important than antecedently acknowledged.

The study calls for a melodramatic displacement successful argumentation focus. Researchers urge a scope of interventions to reside nan problem of vacant homes, specified arsenic financial incentives for owners to participate nan semipermanent rental market, tax breaks for renovating quiet properties, and urban readying devices that prioritize occupancy complete speculation.

Reviving these unused homes could not only thief easiness unit connected nan rental marketplace but besides stimulate economical activity done renovations, trim lodging inequality, and fortify organization life successful some cities and land communities.

Greece’s lodging situation is being fueled not by tourism aliases short-term rentals, but by nan immense number of vacant homes crossed Attica, Athens, and celebrated islands—where complete 2 cardinal 2 100 seventy 1000 properties stay unoccupied, moreover successful high-demand areas.

In summary, nan study presents a clear message: Greece’s lodging situation is not conscionable astir tourism aliases picnic rentals. It’s astir millions of homes lying idle while locals look rising rents and constricted choices. To build a sustainable lodging future, activating this immense underused lodging banal is now much urgent than ever.