Owners can’t sell as their demands are excessive

Property market professionals report a gap ranging around 15% to 25% on average between the asking prices and the prices at which the sales are finally made, which means there is plenty of room for prospective buyers to bargain.

As they explain, this significant distance arises mainly due to excessive expectations that many sellers have, especially in the cases of older apartments, which also require the corresponding work in order to be modernized.

"Indeed, we find that on average there is a discrepancy of 15%-20%, between the price that one will see in the ad and the one at which the transaction will finally be completed," Lefteris Potamianos, president of the Association of Realtors of Athens-Attica, tells Kathimerini. This mainly concerns older properties, since the prices of new constructions completed during this period are clearly more difficult to reduce,...