Property drawing more interest from international markets

Interest from abroad in Greek properties in the first couple of months of this year was more than double that seen in the same period last year.

A survey by the Spitogatos real estate advertisement website recorded a 125.6 percent year-on-year rise in searches for Greek property ads on the Internet in January and February. The survey report attributes this jump to the considerable increase in interest from countries such as China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which are not traditional buyers of Greek realty.

The biggest increase was for properties in Thessaloniki (up 281.2 percent), followed by the southern suburbs of Athens (251.5 percent). Real estate in the rest of Macedonia and Thrace saw a 163.8 percent surge in interest, while the equivalent figures were 157.7 percent for the center of Athens and 133.3 percent for Crete.

In terms of origin, Chinese...