The price of progress

Like it or not, the world is always changing and these changes are not always fair - whatever that might mean - or what we predicted or desired. The same can be said for the real estate market. In Halkidiki, northern Greece, for example, the custom back in the day was to endow the daughters with barren coastal fields while keeping the green and fertile land further inland for the sons. Then tourism came along - and we know who came out on top there.

Downtown Athens 30 years ago was like those beautiful but barren seaside plots in Halkidiki: snubbed in favor of the suburbs. Property values and rental rates had plummeted and even though Greece had a socialist government for two decades, not a single minister came forward to introduce a minimum rental rate. Now, thanks to tourism, values and rents have been going up in the city center, boosting the economy, breathing new life...