Real Estate: The Greek market has high growth prospects, says Hellenic Properties

The finding that the Greek market and especially Athens continues to be a field of investment opportunities in real estate, as a thirst for modern buildings for all uses, is expressed by Erikos Arones, CEO of Hellenic Properties, a real estate investment company, which is in discussions with strategic investors and aims to take advantage of value added opportunities in the field of real estate development in Greece.

"Instead of building new properties and burdening the environment even more, removing vital free space, from the already burdened landscape of the big Greek cities and especially Athens, it is clearly preferable to focus on the renewal and modernization of the surplus of old buildings,"  Errikos Arones told state news agency AMNA. As the CEO of Hellenic Properties explains, in Europe as a whole, unrenovated buildings now make up 64% of the stock, while 35% of them are buildings over 55 years old. "Our specialty is investing in the renovation and modernization of existing buildings, so that they are environmentally, financially and temporally beneficial for everyone, including the neighborhood in which each property is located."

Demand

The demand is primarily for buildings of modern specifications, with lower operating costs, which have been designed and developed from the beginning for the intended use, the so-called build-to-suit. That is, office buildings, homes or other special uses (eg nursing homes and dormitories) and not general or mixed, as used to be the case, especially in the center of Athens and other major Greek cities, he adds. However, Errikos Arones observes that the fragmentation of property, which once worked to meet the needs of housing, is now an obstacle to the development of the stock of old real estate and...