Greece: The Mediterranean Choice for Real Estate Investors

Summary: Greece has become a Mediterranean real estate investment hotspot because its property market offers something for everyone and because real estate prices in Greece are extremely attractive.

The Greek real estate market is currently one of the most exciting in the Mediterranean region because it offers real estate investors the chance to build an entire and well diversified property portfolio within one country. The wealth of opportunities available in Greece for the international property investor really became known after the Athens Olympics in 2004. The promotion of Athens and mainland Greece to the wider world not only promoted the appeal of the country for investors, it resulted in a massive influx of tourists particularly to the mainland throughout 2004 and 2005. Now add these growing tourism numbers to the large volume of visitors who annually holiday on the Greek islands and the total level of interest in this Mediterranean country has surged which has created more demand for rental and resale accommodation. In terms of the immediate opportunities available to real estate investors they include commercial and retail investment property in the main cities of Greece - the majority of demand and the highest yielding assets are available in Athens - tourism accommodation to let out along the Greek coastline and in every resort on every Greek island, retirement and second home demand in the main Greek resorts and of course residential accommodation to rent across Greece particularly in the main employment hotspots. And for those who seek emerging market opportunities there's the Peloponnese region of Greece where property investment is just beginning to return attractive dividends. Another underlying factor supporting the appeal of Greece currently is the fact that large swathes of the real estate sector are highly competitively priced - especially when you compare the country to another Mediterranean favourite, namely Spain - this means that an investor can get far more for their money in Greece than elsewhere on the Med and are therefore potentially buying into a market with healthy room for growth. As there are very few restrictions placed on the foreign freehold ownership of property in Greece and the property buying process is very straightforward, more and more investors looking for portfolio diversification opportunities are examining the wealth of opportunity in Greece currently and therefore Greece is emerging as the Mediterranean choice for real estate investors in 2006.