Apartment prices down 5.6 pct in Q2‏

The central bank, in a report, said that according to revised data, the respective decline in the first quarter of 2015 was 4.1 pct, while the average annual rate of decline in 2014 was 7.5 pct.

More specifically, the year-on-year rate of decline in prices was 7.1 pct for "new" apartments (i.e. up to 5 years old) and 4.7 pct for "old" apartments (i.e. over 5 years old) in the second quarter of 2015. According to revised data, the respective decline in the first quarter of 2015 was 4.7 pct for “new” apartments against 3.6 pct for “old” apartments, while the average annual rate of change in 2014 was -6.6 pct and -8.1 pct respectively. According to data broken down by geographical area, apartment prices are estimated to have declined year-on-year in the second quarter of 2015 by 5.2 pct in Athens, 8.2 pct in Thessaloniki, 7.1 pct in other cities and 4.0 pct in other areas of Greece. Based on revised data, in the first quarter of 2015 apartment prices in all urban areas declined year-on-year by 4.3 pct, while for 2014 as a whole they declined at an average annual rate of 8.1 pct.

Residential property appraisals conducted with Monetary Financial Institution intermediation for any purpose totaled 2,821 in the second quarter of 2015, down from 3,281 in the previous quarter (revised data). Year-on-year the number of residential property appraisals fell by 24.1 pct in the second quarter of 2015. The volume of residential property appraisals, expressed in total square metres, declined by 27.4 pct, while the value of residential property appraisals dropped by 31.2 pct year-on-year in the second quarter of 2015.