ATHENS — Apartment prices continued rising in the third quarter of 2020 despite the pandemic crisis. According to data collected by credit institutions, nominal apartment prices are estimated to have increased on average by 3.2 pct year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020, the Bank of Greece said in a report on Monday.

According to revised data, the increase in the first and second quarters of 2020 was 6.5 pct and 4.1 pct year-on-year, respectively, while in 2019 nominal apartment prices increased on average by 7.2 pct.

More specifically, in the third quarter of 2020 the year-on-year rate of increase in prices was 4.2 pct for "new" apartments (up to five years old) and 2.6 pct for "old" apartments (over five years old). According to revised data, in 2019 the average annual rate of increase in the prices of "new" and "old" apartments was 7.7 pct and 6.9 pct respectively.

According to regional data, in the third quarter of 2020 apartment prices are estimated to have increased year-on-year by 5.6 pct in Athens, 4.3 pct in Thessaloniki and 1.5 pct in other areas of Greece, whereas a marginal decrease of 0.3 pct was recorded in other cities. According to revised data, apartment prices increased in 2019 on average by 10.5 pct, 6.9 pct, 4.5 pct and 3.7 pct year-on-year, respectively, in the above-mentioned areas. Finally, as regards all urban areas of the country, in the third quarter of 2020 apartment prices increased by 3.4 pct year-on-year, while, based on revised data, apartment prices increased at an average annual rate of 7.4 pct in 2019.