Soaring rents, tourism led to housing crunch in Greece

In the run-up to the European parliament elections in June, many Greeks are focussed on what for them is the big issue: finding a home.

Soaring rents, record-breaking numbers of tourists and a surge in foreign investment in property all mean that getting affordable housing here is an uphill task.

And thousands of people face the same challenge.

Kyriaki Tsouti and Dionyssis Giakoumelos are among those caught in the housing labyrinth.

Tsouti, 32, is unemployed. Her partner, Giakoumelos, also 32, clears 750 euros ($804) each month.

They want to start a family, but 60 percent of their income goes towards housing expenses.

And even in the semi-rural town of Koropi east of Athens, an 80-square-meter  flat costs more than 500 euros a month, Tsouti told AFP.

"It's a considerable increase for our tight budget," she said.

It is a problem for increasing numbers of people in this country of 10.4 million.

Incomes slashed during the 2009-2018 debt crisis, have still not recovered.

In terms of household income, Greece ranks in 21st place among the 27 EU member states even after an increase in the minimum wage to 830 euros, according to EU data agency Eurostat.

According to a Bank of Greece report in November, Greeks spent 34.2 percent of household income on housing in 2022 compared to an EU average of 19.9 percent.

Between 2009 and 2022 salaries fell by 32 percent, according to figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Greece has the lowest wages among developed economies, says the OECD.

That, and the cuts to pensions during the debt crisis, dealt a major blow to the purchasing power of Greeks. It currently stands at just 67 percent of the European...