Holiday home: more expensive this year – islands are in demand

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Consistently high demand and foreign buyers' preference for larger properties and higher quality standards have driven up country house prices sharply in 2024.

According to data collected by Elxis-At Home in Greece, the average price of holiday homes has increased by 44% in the last two years and is now €378,500, compared to €263,000 in 2022. In the last 12 months alone, the increase is 27.8%, compared to 12.5% ​​growth in 2022-2023.

“We see that this year the total value of sales we are making has significantly exceeded last year’s figures, although in absolute terms the number of homes sold is similar to 2023. In particular, the majority of sales are holiday homes with an average price of €350,000, while last year the corresponding figure was less than €300,000.”” says Georgios Gavriilidis, managing director of Elxis, a holiday home company based in the Netherlands.

As for the areas where demand is greatest, Crete stands out, while this year has also seen significant growth in Corfu and in the Preveza area, especially in terms of new buildings.

“The areas on the southern side of Crete, mainly in the prefectures of Rethymno and Chania, overlooking the Libyan Sea, are one of the most popular options among foreign holiday home buyers. This year we have also seen a significant shift towards the Ionian regions: Corfu and the mainland in Preveza. This is also the reason for the significant increase in investment in the construction of new holiday homes in the above-mentioned areas,” – says Mr. A. A. Harutyunyan.

Based on data ELSTAT In the first five months of this year, private construction activity in Crete grew by 51.4% in terms of permits, 57.3% in terms of area and 56.3% in terms of volume.

According to Elxis (based on monthly ELSTAT reports), 2,106 new homes are expected to be built on the island in the coming months based on permits issued this year. Similarly, 251 new homes are expected to be built in Corfu and another 535 in Preveza based on permits issued in January-May. A significant proportion of these developments will be aimed at foreign holiday home buyers.

Interpreting the shift towards larger, more expensive properties this year, Mr Gavriilidis notes that “newly built properties with a private pool, near or with sea views and amenities, priced from €350,000 are particularly difficult to find in other European countries, where prices are on average 40% higher. So the decision to invest in Greece is particularly easy, even if prices are higher than in previous years.” This is also reflected, he says, in buyers’ preference for increasingly high-quality holiday homes, as the value for money factor rises accordingly.

According to Elxis forecasts, in the coming years, prices for country houses will continue to grow, by an average of 8-10% per year. Thus, many people prefer to invest money for investment purposes, counting on a significant increase in capital in the future, and in the meantime they can provide annual income of at least 4% from the use of your property.

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