Tzavelina Aleksandridi, CEO of Alpha Ermis, tells ee24.com readers that real estate prices in Greece have stopped falling. The Crimea did favour for realtors from Hellas, and the Chinese will not catch up with the Russians for a long time in terms of investments in "golden visa".
– Everyone knows that Greece is still trying to cope with the crisis and that prices for real estate are falling. How can you comment it on?
– This year, the economic situation in Greece began to stabilize. For the first time in the last two years primary budget surplus has been registered in the country. Although it can’t be clearly seen in everyday life, the fall in real estate prices in Greece has stopped for most properties. We can even predict a slight increase in prices within one or two years.
– What are the clients that you work with more often?
– Our main clients are locals, i.e. the Greeks themselves. At the same time we are engaged in the expansion and development of the business, and for the second year we have been successfully working on the Russian market. This year we took part in real estate exhibition in St. Petersburg for the first time and we expect very positive results. Generally speaking about the real estate market situation in Greece, among buyers there are the Russians, also the British and the Germans came back and the Ukrainians began to come actively.
Poros, Greece
– You mentioned the Ukrainians: will there be more of them due to the recent political changes?
– Perhaps it will bring us some profit purely from commercial point of view. I think that sales to the Ukrainians will increase due to political events in Ukraine and "the Crimean issue". Moreover, it is likely that customers will have to pay even more: as it has already been said, real estate prices in Greece will rise due to active arrival of the Russians and the Ukrainians.
– How much money do you need to buy housing in Greece?
– You can buy real estate in Greece for at least for €20,000. Recently we have closed a deal with a client who was lucky to buy a one bedroom apartment for this price - it is virtually the same as a Russian one bedroom apartment. In general, real estate prices in Greece range from €20,000 to several million. Thus for €20,000 you can buy an apartment in Athens as well as housing at sea. But only if you are lucky. If you have €40,000, you can count on purchasing a good property.
– Should you have the total amount or can you have a loan?
– Today the situation is that getting a mortgage in Greece is practically impossible. At least, for the Russians.
Mykonos, Greece
– In news there are a lot of issues about residence permit in Greece and that the Chinese were the first to benefit from this offer.
– The first Chinese buyers appeared in Greece not today, but 20 years ago. Now many of them already have a residence permit, but there are not many such people. Now in Greece there is no influx of the Chinese.
My opinion on residence permit is controversial. On the one hand, buying a property for €250,000 and obtaining a residence permit in Greece is good. On the other hand, there are plenty of other ways to get a residence permit in Greece, which are not related to real estate.
Interview: Alexander Fetyukov, ee24.com