Rent Crisis in Greece: An Entire Monthly Salary for a Two-Bedroom Apartment

In the Attica region, the rent-to-income ratio for a emblematic 60 sq.m. (one-bedroom) flat has reached 70.2%. Credit: Greek Reporter

A survey by the Center for Liberal Studies (KEFiM), based connected 2024 Eurostat data, highlights the unsustainable surge successful lodging rents successful Greece and peculiarly successful greater Athens. The findings uncover a stark reality: renting a location has go financially unviable for the mean household.

In the Attica region, the rent-to-income ratio for a emblematic 60 sq.m. (one-bedroom) flat has reached 70.2%. For a larger 75–95 sq.m. (two-bedroom) apartment, the ratio skyrockets to 93.6%. In contrast, the European Union averages for these categories are importantly lower, astatine 31–34% and 46%, respectively.

The wage gap

The situation is driven chiefly by the stagnation of Greek wages compared to European averages.

Average Full-Time Salary (Greece): €1,500

Average Full-Time Salary (EU): €3,317

While Athens’ rental prices—averaging €1,050 for one-bedroom and €1,400 for two-bedroom units—are comparable to different EU capitals, the vastly little purchasing powerfulness of Greek workers makes these prices prohibitive. Essentially, renting a modular two-bedroom flat successful Athens present requires astir an full mean monthly salary.

Future outlook for lodging rents successful Greece

The concern has deteriorated rapidly. Even during the 2015 fiscal crisis, the rent-to-income ratio for a one-bedroom flat successful Athens was 41.6%. By 2024, this spiked to 70.2%. Furthermore, 2025 information shows nary signs of a slowdown; Greece recorded the second-highest rent summation successful the EU (10.1%), surpassed lone by Croatia.

According to KEFiM, the caller rally is fueled by:

• Increased request from tourism and short-term rentals (Airbnb).
• Limited proviso of caller lodging owed to the decade-long operation freeze.
• Foreign concern driven by the “Golden Visa” program.
• A precocious fig of vacant/closed properties kept disconnected the market.

Nikos Rompapas, President of KEFiM, emphasizes that addressing the situation requires policies that boost lodging proviso and enactment susceptible households, alternatively than “populist and ineffective measures similar rent caps.”

Related: Greece’s Real Estate Crisis: Why Housing Supply Has Collapsed