In The News

DBRS Morningstar, a credit rating company from Canada, upgraded Greece’s credit rating at the beginning of September to “investment level.”

The amount invested in 2022 in the housing market in Greece is estimated at 8 billion euros, showing the upward trend in demand and prices. It is surprising that such a high amount was spent on houses last year in Greece because banks in 2022 were not likely to finance 100% of the value of the property. Only 20% of purchases and sales of properties in Greece are made through bank lending.

Fermor was a young British aristocrat who left his posh lifestyle in the 1930s to travel from Holland to Istanbul on whatever means of transportation he could find. He often moved on foot or on horseback and kept a detailed journal of his escapades. This journal was later published into a trilogy, with the first book titled A Time of Gifts. Fermor recounts enrolling in the British army and making his way to the island of Crete in the disguise of a shepherd. He was really an anti-Nazi spy, and he went to Greece to help the locals kidnap a German general. His journey lasted 13 months and Fermor only left with a rucksack, sleeping in workhouses and barns. He drank and made friends with farmers and budding Nazis.

Anyone weighing up a home in Greece is really making two decisions at once: the property itself, and the country behind it. On the second count, the picture has brightened considerably in recent years. Greece has regained its investment-grade credit rating, its economy has been growing faster than the eurozone average, and a wave of reforms has made buying property more transparent than ever. None of this guarantees anything about a particular home, but it does mean buyers are stepping into a steadier, more open market than the one of a decade ago. Here's what has changed, and why it matters.