Property rates up by 8 percent, rents by 10 pct

Property prices in Greece posted an annual increase of up to 28 percent last year, while rental rates rose by up to 25.2 percent, with those figures recorded in Thessaloniki and Piraeus respectively. Across the country sale prices rose 8 percent while rents showed an average increase of 10 percent, according to data from the Spitogatos Property Index of property ad website Spitogatos.

The company's chief executive, Dimitris Melachroinos, says that, "in certain areas, for the first time in the last 10 years, we are seeing property sale prices climb to levels unseen since the outbreak of the crisis. Investors from Greece and abroad are showing a strong interest and trying to make the most of this opportunity by investing either in areas already developed or in developing ones."

Besides Thessaloniki, the center of Athens also showed a major increase in property sale...