rents

With Greece having one of the highest percentages of student population in relation to its population, according to Eurostat, the acute problem of student housing continues to remain unsolved, straining thin family budgets.

The general increase in rents, which exceeds 50% in the last five years, the lack of small houses (25-50 sq.m.), the surge in short-term leases and the minimum offered places in the student halls of state universities that cover less than 5% of students are the main factors in the difficult equation.

Every year and worse

In the last 5 years, there are fewer and fewer available properties suitable for students and this makes the situation even more difficult, says Lefteris Potamianos, president of Athens-Attica realtors.

The result is that rental prices have gone out of control. It is indicative that compared to last year the rents for an apartment up to 65 sq.m. in Kypseli, which in the recent past was considered a cheap area, have increased over 16%, reaching 9.5 euros per sq.m. monthly.

The same happens in Kato Patisia, where with a rent of 7-8.5 euros per sq.m. the only houses one can find are old apartments of energy class Z or H.

In fact, even in these cases, the houses for rent are still among the “cheap” solutions, since the average asking price of the rents for the renovated small houses in the majority of the regions of Attica does not fall below 10 euros per sq.m.

Thessaloniki is following the same pattern. The price of a student house in several areas of the co-capital and its suburbs is close to 10 euros per sq.m. with the exception of the center (over 10 euros/sq.m.), while the areas of Evosmos and Stavroupoli stand out as the most economical areas.

The situation is similar in the popular student towns in the province.

In Patras, the average rent has reached 8.6 euros per sq.m., according to the data from the advertisements on the Spitogatos network, increased by almost 11% compared to last year.

In Heraklion, Crete, rental prices for small houses have risen over 11% compared to 2023, reaching an average of 10 euros per sq.m.

In the rest of Greece, the lowest average asking prices of student houses were recorded in Lamia and Agrinio, while the highest were recorded in places of intense tourist interest, such as Corfu and Rethymnon.

All inclusive student houses

Given that 35% of Greek students and 100% of foreigners need housing, the “pie” of domestic student accommodation, which is expected to grow further in the coming years in view of the establishment of non-state non-profit universities, is starting to interest more strongly the big players in the real estate market and individual private investors.

Already from Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras to Larissa, Komotini and Xanthi, companies such as Hamlet, Oikotrust, Smik, MyFlat etc., manage private student residences although the number of apartments offered is still relatively small compared to what happens in the rest of the European countries.

However, the prospects for investment and development in the real estate market for student housing (Purpose Built Student Accommodation – PBSA) are excellent.

According to a recent study by Mordor Intellfence, Europe’s student accommodation market size in terms of investment value is expected to grow from US$26.21 billion in 2024 to US$34.73 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 5.80% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

Price comparison

All inclusive student houses, smaller in size than apartments rented in urban apartment buildings, fully furnished and equipped with private bathrooms and common areas (kitchen, laundry, living rooms, etc.), are located in self-contained complexes, providing a range of services included in the rental price (eg costs for internet, water, heating, security, but not most often for electricity, use of laundry, etc.) and are available for both short and long term use.

Rents are estimated to be 15-35% higher than similar urban properties.

In general, with regard to the rents of furnished apartments and studios, even though they are within reach for the natives, the prices in our country are lower compared to Europe.

It is characteristic that Athens is the second cheapest compared to 28 European cities examined in a recent survey by HousingAnywhere, one of Europe’s largest rental platforms.

Specifically, on average, a furnished apartment of 52 sq.m. in Athens, based on data from HousingAnywhere, rents for 950 euros per month and a 30 sq.m. studio, also furnished, for 700 euros per month.

Greece’s twisted first place

Greece, based on the most recent report of the National Authority for Higher Education, with 843,832 registered students in 2021, i.e. undergraduates, postgraduates and PhD candidates, ranks 7th in the EU in terms of the percentage of the student population.

Specifically, it holds 4.64% of all higher education students in the EU, a percentage significantly higher than that of countries of similar population size, such as Belgium (2.97% of the total), Portugal (2.22% of the total) or of Hungary (1.58% of the total).

Furthermore, in proportion to the total population of the country, it appears that our country has the comparatively highest number of registered students (8.07%) in Europe, which is mainly due to the inclusion of inactive students (in years beyond n+3).

It is worth noting that Greece’s rate is well above the average of the EU-27 countries, which is estimated at 4.07%.

The stay of inactive students, that is, those who do not graduate from Greek universities, creates unfavorable performance for the country

In order to understand this size, it is enough to say that Germany, despite the fact that it has numerically the most students in the EU27, ranks only 17th in terms of the percentage of students in the total population of the country (4.03%) in a total of 33 European countries.

The presence of inactive students, who do not graduate from Greek universities, creates unfavorable performance for the country in a number of relevant international indicators, such as:

• The percentage of graduates in the total number of students per year remains the lowest among European countries.

• The unfavorable percentage distribution between undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students is a basic consequence of the above distortion.

Regarding the subjects of study, students in Greece follow, in their majority, the engineering sciences and the sciences of administration and law with the last in their preference being the services. In Europe, most students are enrolled in management sciences and legal studies, and the fewest in geotechnical sciences.

Source OT