An income of 11.5 years should be available to a wage earner to buy a house of 60 square meters without incurring any other expenses. in Athens. Although the housing market in Greece is still very affordable for foreign buyers, the cost of housing has proven unaffordable for Greeks and very low average salaries are the main reason for the continued increase in house prices.
CEO of Served Property Services Mr. According to a recent study by Dimitris Andritsos, the average Greek income today cannot (and will) keep up with the increased house prices in Athens. Characteristically, 75% of Greek households cannot afford affordable properties because, as research suggests, they need 42% more income than they have today.
In particular, as the data shows, 42% of domestic households have an average income of less than 20,000 euros. In fact, families with two members receive approximately 8,000 with 17,000 euros each, which is below the basic salary. About 32% of Greeks earn between 20,000 and 35,000 euros per year. More than 20% earn up to €70,000 per year, while 2% of households earn more than €100,000 per year.
In fact, house prices in many regions of Greece today exceed the high record of 2008, opening the gap between average salaries and prices even wider. For example, a house that previously cost 175,000 euros today fetches 274,000 euros, which represents a 57% increase when the average salary has increased by only 17%. This makes a difference of about 40% between the two indicators.
However, the “scissors” opening ranks Athens as one of the most expensive cities in the world for its citizens. In particular, research suggests, it ranks below Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris and Tel Aviv. It has particularly attractive prices for foreign investors and is the 4th cheapest country for housing in Europe.
At the European level, the countries with the highest average salary are Ireland, 35,000 euros per year, Denmark, Austria and Germany, 30,000 euros. In Southern Europe, Greece and Portugal seem to be the poorest countries, as the average salary in Cyprus reaches 20,000 euros per year, while Spain, Italy and Malta move a little higher.
Globally, according to survey rankings, a house with an area of 60 square meters should be bought. In Hong Kong a family needs to save more than 20 years of wages, in Tokyo citizens need 15 years of income, in Paris 14 years, in Tel Aviv more than 12 years, and Greece needs 11.5 years of wages to make the top five. years. In contrast, Miami, San Francisco, and Madrid require very low wages, where families only need to save 5 years worth of wages.