The Bank of Greece has published data on the cost of housing in Greece, with the figures giving Greeks the negative lead in the European Union.

According to the Financial Stability Report, the percentage of income that Greeks spend on housing is the highest in the EU and reached 34.2% in 2022 (followed by the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany), while the rest of Europeans spend an average of 19.9%.

Yet another negative record is the excessive burden due to housing costs. In 2022, 27% of the country's population incurred housing costs that amounted to over 40% of their disposable income, while the corresponding percentage in the eurozone stood at 9.4%.

Regarding property prices, the Bank of Greece estimates that there is room for further increase, despite the significant rise in recent years. This is because housing prices in Greece are still below the historical high recorded before the 2008 fiscal crisis. The highest point of the index was observed in 2008 (101.7), and it then steadily declined, reaching its lowest point in 2017 (59).

Similarly, the trend in rental levels shows the index at 98.5 based on data from the third quarter of 2023, compared to 94.8 in the fourth quarter of 2022. Unlike the housing price index, the rental index remains significantly lower than its historical peak of 124.3 in the third quarter of 2011.

In the second quarter of 2023, prices for new apartments (up to 5 years old) increased at an average annual rate of 13.8%, while prices for old apartments increased by 14.1%.

The increases in urban centers are even higher, as in Thessaloniki (16.4%) and other major cities (14.6%), the annual rate of price increase for apartments exceeded the corresponding average rate of increase for the entire country.