ATHENS — Nominal apartment prices rose 6.9 pct in the first quarter of 2020 compared with the same period last year, the Bank of Greece said on Thursday. The central bank, in a report, said that according to revised data, the average annual rate of increase was 7.3 pct in 2019 (Q1: 5.5 pct, Q2: 7.6 pct, Q3: 8.3 pct and Q4: 7.6 pct), against an increase of 1.8 pct in 2018.

More specifically, in the first quarter of 2020, prices of “new” apartments (up to 5 years old) increased by 7.9 pct year-on-year, whereas prices of “old” apartments (over 5 years old) increased by 6.3 pct year-on-year. According to revised data, prices of “new” apartments increased by 7.7 pct on average in 2019, against an increase of 2.0 pct in 2018, whereas “old” apartment prices increased by 7.0 pct in 2019, against a rise of 1.7 pct in 2018.

According to regional data, in the first quarter of 2020, apartment prices are estimated to have increased by 10.6 pct year-on-year in Athens, 5.5 pct in Thessaloniki, 2.9 pct in other cities and 4.3 pct in other areas of Greece. For the whole of 2019, based on revised data, apartment prices increased on average by 10.4 pct, 7.0 pct, 4.0 pct and 4.6 pct, respectively, in the above-mentioned areas. Finally, as regards all urban areas of the country, in the first quarter of 2020, apartment prices increased by 7.3 pct year-on-year, whereas for the whole of 2019 the average annual increase was 7.4 pct, against a rise of 1.8 pct in 2018.