Borrowing costs not expected to decline, expectations for new appreciations in residences and low willingness to receive credit constitute its context housing crisis in Greece, making citizens visibly pessimistic.
Data from the ECB’s consumer expectations survey show that Greek households anticipate the highest twelve-month housing interest rates among member states, while at the same time “seeing” a continuation of the housing crisis through the largest rise in house prices across the Eurozone.
At the same time, the percentage of those who state that they applied for credit in the last three months is at the low end of the eurozone, despite the support from programs like Spiti Mu which brought thousands of citizens in contact with bank credit.
On the mortgage rate expectations leg, Greece stands out consistently higher than all other countries throughout 2023–2025. Even after the internationally recorded de-escalation in 2024, the Greek curve remains significantly above the eurozone level, with households anticipating that borrowing costs will remain elevated a year from now.
In house price expectations the trend is similar. From the beginning of 2023 onwards, Greek households systematically state that they expect the largest price increase in a twelve-month horizon in the eurozone. The deviations in relation to the rest of the countries are stable, with Portugal and Spain following but at lower levels, while markets such as Germany, France and the Netherlands move close to a middle zone. Simply put, the average Greek consumer “sees” more expensive housing in an environment where access to financing is already considered difficult.
As a result of the above, is the third part of the research, which concerns applications for credit. At the end of 2025, the percentage of Greek households stating that they requested some form of credit in the previous quarter is at the “bottom” of the European table, while countries such as Germany, Finland and Spain are in the highest zones.
The combination of the three findings of the survey (high expectations for housing interest rates – high expectations for house prices – low percentage of Greeks trying to get a loan) suggests that a large part of Greek households either do not even attempt to borrow or are discouraged by the expected costs and the level of prices.
In this context, government measures for easier access to finance – such as the new version of the My Home program with subsidized interest rates and wider criteria – attempt to act as a “bridge” for new borrowers. However, the mapping of expectations shows that much of society is not convinced of the effectiveness of these interventions, or simply has not been able to access funding even through them.
In markets with similar programs, experience shows that without increasing inventory (renovations, utilization of vacant apartments, incentives for new construction, faster permits), the economic incentive that boosts demand in limited inventory works in the short term, perpetuating high prices.