The lifting of much of the restrictions on “fast” travel that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic has already paid off. People who value outdoor activities and new experiences have returned to their usual way of life. Waking up in rainy Riga or in foggy Tallinn, they instantly decide to go to Athens, Thessaloniki or the Greek islands for the weekend.
How large their number is evidenced by the sphere of rental property in Greece. Already at the beginning of April, it became obvious that in 2022 the turnover of the short-term rental housing market would be many times higher than recorded before the pandemic.
Greek experts talk about more than 1.4 billion euros in profits.
Not so long ago, the annual BnB Greece conference was held in Athens, speaking at which Martha Wilson, a leading analyst at AirDNA researching the Greek markets, announced eloquent figures: today we can already talk about covering 94.9% of 2019 indicators. As for the comparison with 2020, 1.33 billion euros are predicted here (in 2020 - 790 million euros).
The fact that the prospects for turnover from short-term rentals of Greek properties are the best in Europe is evidenced by the number of bookings for the summer months made before March 1st. They are already 232% more than in the same period last year. Greece is somewhat ahead of Portugal and noticeably ahead of Croatia, Italy and Spain.
Where do foreign tourists plan to go on holidays and weekends?
Let's take a closer look at how booking interest has skyrocketed since last tourist season:
And these are just indicators of "serious" booking. There are also statistics of spontaneous overnight stays of Greek guests who then stayed for several days. Here the figures are also indicative: on the islands of Sporades overnight accommodation has risen in price by 26%, in the Peloponnese by 19%, in Athens by 12%. Hospitality in the Cyclades costs a little less, but the general trend is obvious: for the lovers of frequent visits to the Mediterranean it is more profitable to buy property in Greece than to spend money on rent.
And this is still a “pre-season” situation: Martha Wilson warned that as summer approaches, everything can change. After all, it is in the summer months that 60% of annual demand falls, when real estate prices in Greece seem to be more benign than the cost of short-term rentals.
Rental business - the reason to buy an apartment in Greece
After analyzing the situation, it should be noted that buying an apartment in Athens, Thessaloniki or the Greek islands is an excellent investment project in Greece. The growth rate that the country showed from October 2021 to February 2022 indicates that income from short-term rental of property purchased in Greece will not be long in coming.