Apartment

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has unveiled a program of state aid to support owners and tenants who lived in a building in Athens that suffered serious structural damage when a bomb exploded in an apartment last month.

A couple of Golden Visa holders from China who acquired a property in Glyfada in 2019 and returned to China without being able to return due to the pandemic, have come back to Greece this year only to find their 250,000-euro flat renovated and rented out to a tenant by an unauthorized property agency. 

The Athens municipal technical agency has released a damage report following the October 31 explosion in an apartment in the Ampelokipi area.

According to the report, six apartments sustained damage, including cracks and fractures in floors and walls.

The purchase of old apartments with the aim of renovating them and then renting them out or even reselling them at a profit is gaining ground in the Greek capital's property.

Tenants in Bulgaria are increasingly seeking furnished apartments in newly constructed residential buildings, according to real estate brokers. These modern developments offer several advantages, such as attractive designs, efficient room layouts, and improved energy efficiency.

The Municipality of Aegaleo in western Athens is set to renovate up to 10 aging apartment buildings, fully funded by the European Union through the "Rock the Block" initiative. 

The pilot project, part of the European Urban initiative Innovative Action, aims to upgrade deteriorating housing stock while ensuring affordable living conditions for residents. 

The price gap between newly constructed homes and panel buildings in Sofia has reached approximately 400 euros per square meter, with expectations that this difference will continue to widen, according to construction contractors. The demand for larger, more comfortable properties is outpacing supply, leading to rising prices.

Based on available provisional data from the Bank of Greece, it is estimated that in the second quarter of 2024, apartment prices (in nominal terms) were up by an average of 9.2% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2023.

The housing issue is high on the government’s agenda, as it is one of the burning issues in the daily lives of citizens.

In Bulgaria, newly constructed homes are predominantly two-room units, averaging 85 square meters in size and built mainly from reinforced concrete. According to Nova TV, the highest construction activity is currently seen in Plovdiv and Burgas.