Athens Riviera Summit: The prospect of utilizing public properties in the real estate market
- 19/06/2024
The largest asset class globally is real estate, according to Giannis Delikanakis, Founding Partner of Southrock Asset Management. Delikanakis, participating in a discussion titled “Real Estate Investment: Trend or Strategic Choice?” at the Athens Riviera Summit, mentioned among other things that properties touch and influence every sector of the economy.
He also referred to the issue of creating a local institutional real estate market where public funds or entities can invest part of their assets in properties, citing examples from other countries such as Poland or the Czech Republic. “When foreigners hesitate to invest in the Greek market, the local institutional market steps in until the trust of foreign investors is restored.”
The General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for international investments, Maira Myrogianni, emphasized on the same topic that “a balance had to be struck so that public entities could invest in real estate. We are in an economic stability and it is a topic that we can now discuss from a different perspective.”
Mrs. Myrogianni mentioned, among other things, that “it is important to know that embassies have offices of economic diplomats, which facilitate contact with investors and give the image of our country for what they can do with investments. Similarly, Greeks can contact the Economic and Commercial Affairs Offices to approach investors abroad. At the same time, we organize business missions such as the recent one in India in the presence of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. India is one of the markets we want to open, as well as Indonesia. We have a very good momentum in Greece and maintain a very stable investment environment, and The Economist has ranked us as the country with the greatest improvement in the investment environment. What we see is that by 2024 investments will increase by 24%.
Regarding whether the domestic real estate market remains competitive, the head of Hellenic Properties, Erricos Arrones, said that in recent years there has been an increase in all sectors of real estate. “I would say that because real estate in other European countries shows signs of fatigue and Greece shows signs of stabilization, we have started to reach a point where prices are approaching those of abroad. Also, in Greece, we have started to reach the previous peak we had in real estate and we need to start discussing more seriously how affordable prices are and less about whether Greece is attractive in the real estate sector or not.”
“We are still far from reaching the peak prices of previous years,” said Dika Agapitidou, founder and director of Athens Economics Ltd – JLL. “We still have a way to go to reach the peak,” she added. “Rental prices were recorded at 38 euros per square meter in early 2008. Today, we have reached up to 32 euros per square meter in the office sector. In logistics, we certainly have not yet reached the peak, as there were no logistics in the previous peak of rentals and the first major investment was made in 2014. Retail is showing fatigue, but hotels still have a way to go, as well as new sectors such as student residences, nursing homes, and data centers. These are niche markets that show dynamic growth potential in the future.”
As noted by Denes Lidis, CEO and CIO of Lidis Property Partners, “the real estate sector is purely people-centric. People and their experience make the difference. But also, the technical knowledge. In Greece, a good start has been made with professionals gaining experience, and in 10 or 20 years, the overall image of the sector will improve, boosting investments.”