Property value gap grows between different zones

The Finance Ministry's blueprint for the adjustment of properties' taxable rates (known as "objective values") provides for hikes to the zone rates in the center of Athens and reductions in less well-off areas of the capital.

Sources say that ministry officials intend to lighten the tax load on property owners in districts such as Perama, Korydallos, Nikaia and Keratsini, while raising rates in Syntagma, Pangrati, Kolonaki and even Ambelokipi, due to the great increase in demand recorded over the last 12 months.
This is despite the fact that the existing objective values, adjusted last year, are in most cases higher than the market rates.

With this move, the government will continue to place a greater burden on the owners who are already paying the bulk of the Single Property Tax (ENFIA), while making ownership even cheaper in other neighborhoods.

However,...