Real estate

The Euro Working Group (EWG) ended on Monday night without a decision on the disbursement of almost 1-billion-euros from creditors, as there is still no agreement with the Greek government on its plan for protecting the primary residence of debtors from foreclosure.

The Finance Ministry is expected within the month to invite chartered property surveyors to express their interest in the process of a new adjustment of property rates used for tax purposes, known as "objective values," which will go into force at the end of June.

The Environment Ministry on Tuesday said that it is suspending all building licenses in the area around the Acropolis.

The decision comes in response to the construction of a 10-story building that has become the subject of a growing public protest campaign launched by residents of Athens's downtown Makriyianni neighborhood, who say it obstructs their view of the Parthenon.

The new shopping center that the Constantinou Group, which also built the Athens Metro Mall, is planning at Lykovrysi in northern Athens will proceed via the fast-track system as provided for by regulations concerning strategic investments.

A major event called "My Home Turkey Real Estate and Investment Fair" opened in the German city of Dusseldorf on Feb. 8 with the participation of more than 70 developers and real estate associations.

According to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute, the number of dwellings in operation in the fourth quarter of 2018 is 721 and the newly constructed dwellings there are 2 345.

Residents of the central Athens neighborhood of Makriyianni near the Acropolis charge that a urban zoning "crime" is in the making with the recent construction of a series of 10-story buildings, mostly hotels.

Property surveyors will from now on undertake the adjustment of the taxable real estate rates known as objective values, according to a regulation submitted to Parliament on Thursday for ratification. This means that the extraordinary procedure employed in 2018 with the chartered surveyors will turn permanent as of 2019.

The country's 500 most profitable companies in 2017 generated impressive returns according to the figures stemming from their financial reports as processed by ICAP for its special annual publication "Business Leaders in Greece 2018."

The total turnover of the 500 leading firms in terms of profits rose 9.5 percent last year compared to 2016, reaching 91.02 billion euros.

Innovative property startup Blueground aims to lease out some 50,000 furnished apartments in 50 cities around the world by 2023.

This is a particularly ambitious target given that the Greek company currently manages some 1,500 properties totaling 1.3 million square meters in nine cities: Athens, Dubai, Istanbul, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington.