Greek housing market faces rising prices and rents despite large vacant home stock

The Greek Parliament’s Budget Office released a report on the first quarter of 2026 highlighting that, although 34.5% of the country’s housing stock is vacant, many units are not available for sale or rent due to legal, inheritance or condition issues. Utilisation of the housing stock fell from 73.2% in 2011 to 72.5% in 2021. The Office proposes five measures: tax incentives for long‑term rentals ("tax incentives do not necessarily mean higher taxation on Airbnb," said Professor Giannis Tsoukala), renovation subsidies, simplification of inheritance procedures, targeted regulation of short‑term rentals in high‑pressure areas, and public investment in affordable housing. Scenario modelling shows that a modest 0.7‑point drop in utilisation could lift real house prices by 2.3‑3.1% (up to 21% if investment stalls), while adding 500,000 usable units could cut prices by 15‑26%.

Eurostat data for Q1 2026 show EU house prices up 5.1% year‑on‑year and rents up 3.0%. Greece ranks among the three EU countries with the largest rent growth, at about 5%, following Croatia (+21.9%) and Bulgaria (+6.4%). The strongest price gains were recorded in Portugal (+10.3%), Bulgaria (+9.4%) and Slovakia (+9.1%); only France and Finland saw price declines. Rent increases occurred in all EU states except Slovenia (‑0.9%) and Finland (flat).