Luxury holiday homes in Greece are now the focus of foreign investors, with popular islands such as Mykonos and Santorini grabbing most of the attention thanks to the high yields they offer those interested in leasing them out.

According to analyst Konstantinos Sideris of Algean Property – a company active in the holiday home market with an emphasis on foreign buyers – transactions in this section of the market increased by at least 10 percent in 2016 compared to the year before.

“The year 2015 was peculiar, as it began with great expectations for the property market, but they were postponed owing to the climate of political and economic uncertainty in the first half of the year. In the second half of 2015 the market started working again, with the increase in demand and buying interest consolidated during 2016, which is reflected in transactions,” Sideris told Kathimerini.

He said that interest is coming from various European countries (including France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy), adding that since July 2016 there has been a steep rise in demand from Turkey, as the insecurity in the neighboring country has led many Turks to seek investment opportunities in the Greek housing market, both in terms of holiday homes and apartments in Athens.

Foreign buyers are mostly people who often vacation in Greece and used to rent luxurious villas for their stay. Now that prices have slumped by between 30-40 percent for that end of the market, those people have decided to acquire property of their own.

Demand is focused mainly on properties ranging from 500,000 to 1.5 million euros, which are often leased out during the months that their owners are not in Greece.

Algean found in a recent survey it conducted that the number of houses to have received the necessary certificate for this sharing process are now at 11,000, up 70 percent from three years ago.

Of course the above figures do not constitute a rebound for the entire housing market. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that estimates for the course of the market are less optimistic, expecting it to grow slower than the Greek economy.

By Nikos Roussanoglou

*Originally published in ekathimerini.com