Hotels, land plots and residential properties were the most highlighted transactions in May, in the Greek Real Estate Market. As the summer season gets closer -not fast enough according to the hotel owners- so does the development of new hotels, the change of management in others, and the seeking for opportunities gets stronger and more intense. As a result, in the hospitality sector there have been announcements about project kick offs and buyouts. As we speak 40 new hotels prepare to open in Athens alone.
The interest in office space remains strong, with at least two announcements about the development of new office buildings in the greater Attica Area being announced. Despite the pandemic and the change it brought in working habits, there is a lack of quality office buildings and spaces in Attica. This is why construction companies look to develop new office spaces and Investors are looking in buying quality office spaces. Many ambitious development projects are ongoing as we speak in Attica.
Same goes for land, especially in large plots that can accommodate logistics centers (or new office buildings).
Meanwhile, the government announced the updated objective values of the properties, raising discussions about how this will affect the taxes.
More specifically, in May there have been announcements about:
Land
REICs start to look at types of properties they have not looked into much, like residential properties. Noval Property started adding properties of different categories to its real estate portfolio, like residential properties, data centres, warehouses/logistics centres, student apartments. The REIC announced a residential property located in Kefalari, Kifissia, with a plot of approximately 840 sqm. and a house with a total built-up area of 422.75 sq.m. The transaction price amounted to €1.26 m, and a land plot located on Chimarras Street in Maroussi with a total area of 1,635.29 sqm. The acquisition price amounted to €1.266 m and a land plot located on Chimarras Street in Maroussi with a total area of 262.89 sqm. The price of the transaction amounted to €225 thousand. Lamda Development on another note, announced that it sold two plots in Spata, Attica, with a total area of approximately 85 sq. km. for a total price of €14 m.
Residential
Is Resi the new trend? Who knows? Hines did it with the Investment in the South Suburbs of Athens. In May, Noval Property announced the purchase of a residential property located in Kefalari, Kifissia, with a plot of approximately 840 sqm. and a house with a total built-up area of 422.75 sqm. The transaction price amounted to €1.26 m. In Mykonos, the summer house (a breathtaking villa) of Greek designer Lakis Gavalas was put up for auction and was sold at 1.91 m. The 4,804 sqm. property was confiscated for an amount of 300,000 euros.
Hospitality:
This is the hot topic of the Summer. Hospitality; and what does the market bring here? New hotels, reconstructions, new developments. Exciting stuff. In May, Zeus International announced the takeover of the management of the former Eretria Village Resort & Conference Center on Evia, while the central Council of Architecture approved the architectural study for a new luxury hotel in Mylopotamos, Rethymnon, which will have a total area of 15,309 sqm. The investment body here is the company HOTELLAS SA. On another note, Meliá Hotels International announced the addition of three new hotels on the Greek islands. Two in Crete, and one in Rhodes. Last but not least, in North Greece, Belterra Investments Group announced a closed tender process for technical proposals for the full development of the entire Porto Carras area and its emergence as the top tourist destination in the Mediterranean.
Offices:
Two exciting news: Development works have begun on the construction site of the new Kaizen Gaming office building, which is expected to be completed by June next year. The design and construction of the office building has been undertaken by Dimand, one of the largest Greek real estate development company. The company applies a hybrid employment model so it aims to serve its human resources in order to work remotely or with a physical presence at the brand new offices. The second announcement concerns an investment of more than €100 m by Eurobank that is finally is completed after 5 years, giving a new form of international standards to three building blocks in Piraeus. Dimand, which had undertaken both the construction and the management of the development of the project, completed the delivery of the office space, with a total capacity of 7,500 employees.
