Greek homeownership falls sharply under Mitsotakis government, widening housing crisis

Government figures indicate that owner-occupied housing in Greece dropped markedly from 2019 through 2025, coinciding with a modest overall population decline. This loss translated into a large number of households transitioning from ownership to renting, intensifying housing affordability challenges. Greece ranks third highest in the EU for the proportion of households that have moved out of homeownership, at around six percent.

The analysis attributes the decline to three concurrent forces: a surge in bank-driven foreclosures and repossessions, stagnant real wages that limit households' ability to retain property, and rental prices that now consume over a third of disposable income, the highest rate in the EU. These dynamics exacerbate both housing-specific poverty and general economic hardship across the country.