Real estate valuation

Greece's 7 million property owners will find out next month what the new taxable rates in their area will be, ahead of receiving their Single Property Tax (ENFIA) pay notices in the last few days of August.

Chartered surveyors are undertaking the difficult task of adjusting the property rates used for taxation purposes (known as "objective values") for 2018.

Amid concerns over a rise in migrant arrivals from Turkey, staff at Greece's reception and identification centers (RICs), commonly known as "hot spots," wrote to Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas to complain about deteriorating conditions on the island facilities.

Professionals in the property sector are warning that the auctioning of tens of thousands of buildings in the next few years could evolve into an unknown - probably negative - factor regarding the course of prices in the market.

The Finance Ministry is gearing up to bring the country's so-called objective values used to determine property taxes down to the level of market prices, with the aim of getting a new system up and running from January 1, 2018.

Apartment owners in central Athens and other parts of the Greek capital are ready to make the most of the increase in demand - mainly from foreign visitors - given that most people seeking a new home want to rent rather than buy.

A considerable portion of the existing stock of unsold residences across Greece is expected to remain empty and looks set for gradual abandonment, a trend likely to grow when the market finally revives.

Property prices in Cyprus declined by up to 9.6 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter, surveyors said on Thursday, with demand sapped by a lack of bank credit and high unemployment.