HomeAway

Home rentals in Attica are evolving into a two-tier market: One side is fed by demand for short-term leases through popular online platforms such as Airbnb or Homeaway, and the other suffers from the decline in prices for conventional household rentals.

The rapid rise of short-term property leasing to tourists via online platforms such as Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey and HouseTrip has turned the Greek property market upside down.

Property owners and the representatives of the hotel industry in Greece are in conflict over a regulatory intervention in the rapidly growing new market for short-term lodging rentals via online platforms such as Airbnb, HomeAway and others, as the relevant bill is about to be tabled in Parliament.

Greece's first regulatory framework on property rentals via websites such as Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey and HouseTrip will introduce a 5 percent tax per night and impose a fine of 50,000 euros on owners who do not enter their details in the relevant register. Owners' revenues will also be taxed at the rates used for rental incomes (between 15 and 45 percent), depending on the income level.

The decline in house rents in Greece has slowed down to an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the year to end-August, according to figures released by the Bank of Greece on Monday.