“My House 3” has not yet started, but the market is already waiting for an increase in apartment prices

The “Σπίτι μου 3” program has not yet started issuing soft loans, but the real estate market is already afraid of repeating the old scenario: the state is increasing the opportunities for buyers, but the number of available apartments is almost not growing.

The Athens News discussed in detail two days ago conditions of the new program “Σπίτι μου 3”: the age of participants increases to 55 years, the cost of a suitable apartment is up to €300,000, the maximum loan is up to €230,000.

Now another side of the program is emerging – its possible impact on prices.

There will be more buyers, but no apartments

According to Kathimerinimarket representatives consider the very idea of ​​customer support to be correct, but they see a fundamental problem.

The program primarily stimulates demand.

At the same time, it does not create a comparable increase in the number of apartments put up for sale.

As a result, tens of thousands of potential buyers receive cheaper financing and begin looking for roughly the same type of property at the same time.

17–20 thousand new buyers

Video: MEGA

According to recent MEGA data, the budget for “Σπίτι μου 3” will be €2 billion, and approximately 17,000–20,000 households.

This is a significant number of buyers, especially if most of them enter the Athens and Thessaloniki markets at the same time.

The program is due to start operating in January 2027.

What happened after “Σπίτι μου 2”

Warning the market is not just based on theory.

After the second cycle of the program, it was the apartments that met its criteria that rose in price especially quickly.

Kathimerini previously estimated that in some areas of Attica, the increase in the cost of suitable properties reached up to 27%.

There was especially strong demand for old, moderately priced apartments—exactly what program participants were looking for.

“Σπίτι μου 3” expands the price range

Now the state is raising the maximum value of the property from €250,000 to €300.000and the loan size – from €190,000 to €230.000.

This should solve the problem of the previous cycle, when there were fewer and fewer suitable apartments in large cities.

But another risk arises: sellers receive an indication of the amount to which the state has actually expanded the purchasing power of participants.

If in a certain area an apartment cost, for example, €220,000–230,000 and now the number of buyers with access to cheap credit has increased sharply, it is much easier for the seller to try to raise the price.

The main problem is supply

The housing market in Greece has been facing a shortage of affordable apartments for several years.

Some of the housing remains closed, some are used for short-term rentals, and some require serious repairs.

At the same time, the construction of new housing, especially in the affordable price segment, does not have time to compensate for the growth in demand.

This is why programs that give money to the buyer, but do not add apartments to the market, can have a double effect:

• help a specific family buy a home;
• simultaneously raise prices for all other buyers.

Who wins in the end?

For a person who manages to find a suitable apartment and get a loan, the benefit is obvious: a significant part of the cost of financing is subsidized.

But if increased demand raises the price of an apartment by tens of thousands of euros, part of the benefit from a cheap loan will actually be passed on to the seller.

Therefore, when choosing housing for “Σπίτι μου 3” participants, it is especially important not to focus only on the maximum bank limit.

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