Hydra's Real Estate Market As Buoyant As Ever

26 February 2021 ©

The last year's events have increased the volume of new real estate coming onto the Hydra market in 2021. But not necessarily for the reasons that most house-hunters think.

Yes, many Hydriot's are feeling the economic pinch of not working or running their businesses. No, they don't like watching their savings dwindling. And yes, they have many properties dotted around the island that they're doing nothing with other than to grumble when they pay their annual ENFIA and frustrate house-hunters who can't track them down.

It would seem logical to prospective buyers that the CoVid driven economic calamity would help them snap up a quick bargain.

Wrong!

There are still far more people looking for a property to buy on the island than properties for sale. Demand, scarcity and desirability, keep prices high. And it will always be a seller's market. 

Property on Hydra did change hands during 2020. It was less than planned simply because the travel restrictions, even from Athens let alone from abroad, made viewings & transactions impossible. The entire year's worth of real estate transfer had to be crammed into just 4 months, reduced further by the Greek civil and legal system's gritty determination not to forego their August summer recess!

Harassed notaries and lawyers still feeling the lockdown knock-on effects are under even more pressure now to complete last year's delayed transactions before the end of February. The looming mandatory building ID requirement coming into full force on March 1, 2021, focusing efforts more acutely than ever before. Transfers (sales) requested in January and February 2021 are just piling up and will be dealt with more slowly during the year when engineers get-to-grips with the new ID requirements. 

Undoubtedly, we will see distorted statistics for Hydra's 2020 & 2021 property sales. The first quarter of 2021 will reflect nearer to 8 months of 2020 sales. But the stats are likely to show zero transaction from March to May as everyone scrambles to get their new building ID. The entire 2021 figures will most likely be back-ended to the 3rd and 4th quarters. I anticipate that by mid-2022 when all transfers have been entered in Hydra's land registry, it will show that there was definite growth from 2019 for both the subsequent years. A trend that I see continuing.

The drop in real estate sales elsewhere in Greece has been reported as economic nervousness and over-saturation of holiday rental investment. This is not really the case on Hydra. The CoVid crisis has proved an even greater incentive to buyers who are more determined than ever to find their idyllic Hydra home.

Hydra doesn't attract typical investment buyers. Never once in twenty years has a prospective buyer asked me what the ROI could be. Most buyers make an 'emotional & personal' rather than 'objective & business' decision to buy a property on Hydra. Their incentive to buy is because they've fallen in love with the island. They don't want to shop around to find a less expensive place elsewhere in Greece. They aren't just buying a house. They want the lifestyle of THIS island. They're fortunate to have a hefty disposable income to afford the hefty price tags and aren't nervous about spending it. They want to own a little part of Hydra that they, like so many people, can call 'MY Island'. 

Greece's exemplary handling of the CoVid crisis, the conversion to online procedures, low property purchase tax, the best benefits of all the European Golden Visas, and now Building ID's designed to reassure buyers that properties are legally trouble-free is all good news for the real estate market.

The entire country's communication system (including Hydra) has been upgraded to cope with the unprecedented increase in online demand for education and business. Many Greeks and foreigners have learned that working from home during the crisis is something they would like to continue doing, especially if their working-home can be on Hydra where internet access has always been good.

Finding the right property and lack of choice on Hydra is still the biggest stumbling block to real estate sales. However, the reported over-saturation of holiday let investment elsewhere in Greece does affect Hydra but differently and positively. Business-savvy Hydriots, realising that the rental bubble has burst are starting to put their properties up for sale.

By 2019, with approximately 600 properties on Hydra being 'AirBnbed', even Hydriot families couldn't find anywhere to rent for themselves residentially. By May 2020, the CoVid crisis had totally wiped out the entire year's bookings for all holiday rentals.

However, the most desirable, detached, more-up-market houses, well-established on Hydra before the advent of AirBnb, had re-filled with travellers who just rebooked at the last minute, came later in the year and stayed for longer. By the end of the season, most of these house-owners reported that their income wasn't that far off the previous year.

The more recently added, smaller apartments and hastily done up houses (that used to be Yaya's home) didn't do so well. Quite a few of these less well-established properties didn't get any replacement bookings last year. And with the prospect of zero bookings again in 2021, Yaya's old house will be sold instead!

So the CoVid crisis hasn't caused a slump in Hydra's real estate market. If anything, it has highlighted even more reasons why Hydra is such a desirable place to own a home. And certainly, with a few more properties being added for sale, Hydra's real estate is as buoyant as ever.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have a property to sell (whether it's Yaya's or not) and Register Your Interest if you are looking to buy your place on Hydra.