Housing as investment in Greece and Southern Europe - Private profit versus social value

This policy study, published by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) in partnership with Eteron, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and InSocial, examines how housing in Greece (and comparable Southern European contexts) has been reshaped by assetisation and financialisation. The authors are Dimitra Siatitsa, Laura Colini, and Simone Tulumello, and the report frames the conflict between housing as an investment vehicle and housing as a source of social value and a social right.

The study documents a rapid deterioration in affordability in Greece since 2017. It reports a cumulative increase in house prices of 66.4% from 2017 to 2024 (with annual increases above 10% in several years), while advertised rents rose by more than 75% between 2015 and 2024. Although absolute price levels may appear lower than in some EU countries, the report argues that price-to-income ratios make housing increasingly inaccessible for local incomes, especially for young people, migrants, and other vulnerable groups.

The report highlights that access to housing in Greece depends almost entirely on the market and that the country lacks any form of public, social, or cooperative housing. It notes falling homeownership (from 77.2% in 2010 to 69.6% in 2023, Eurostat) and a growing but largely unregulated rental sector (from 18.2% in 2010 to 22.7% in 2023). The study links these shifts to increasing intergenerational and class wealth polarisation and rising difficulty for households to cope with housing costs.

A central argument is that housing price formation is increasingly influenced by foreign demand and tourism-oriented investment rather than by local household purchasing power. The report states that about a quarter of residential transactions between 2018 and 2022 were funded by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and it discusses the Golden Visa programme as a key channel: since 2014, it is estimated to have contributed €5.5–7 billion to the real-estate market and generated 22,298 permits. The study also describes the growth of short-term rentals (STRs), reporting that in 2024 supply peaked at 232,841 units (1,022,633 beds) in August; for Athens, it cites 13,274 listings (October 2024), with 92.5% being entire homes and 68% multiple listings.

Beyond tourism and foreign investment, the report identifies debt management as a pathway for institutional investors to shape housing outcomes. It notes that Greece’s Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio for mortgages rose from 4.5% (2008) to a peak of 49.1% (2016, Bank of Greece). The study argues that securitisation and servicing structures, alongside auction processes, have enabled large-scale property transfer and the growing influence of banks, servicers, and investment vehicles on vacancy, dispossession, and market strategies.

The report critiques policy packages that rely heavily on market subsidies (including subsidised mortgage lending and renovation grants) and warns that demand-side support in deregulated markets can intensify rent and price inflation. It also underscores the climate/energy dimension: it estimates €45 billion in additional residential investment is needed by 2030 to upgrade energy efficiency in 10% of the housing stock. While significant funds are directed to energy upgrades (e.g., programmes targeting 105,000 households), the report notes very limited allocation to expanding social housing supply in Greece through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, compared with other member states.

The study presents three broad policy pathways: controlling market dynamics (including rent regulation and curbing speculative investment), socialising housing (expanding public or decommodified stock), and building democratic multi-level governance so that national, local, and EU action can prioritise housing as a social right over profit-oriented models.