Upward trends are emerging in the current asking prices of commercial real estate for sale, according to a survey conducted in December by the real estate classifieds website, Spitogatos.
Specifically, in a number of cities in the country (Athens, Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Larissa and Patras) the requested office rental prices show an increase in the last quarter of 2020, compared to the corresponding period of 2019, with the most significant change observed in the south suburbs of Athens (+ 9.5%) and Thessaloniki (+ 8.4%).
Currently, the highest requested average rental price per square meter is recorded in the northern suburbs of Athens (10.9 euros) and the center (10 euros) and the lowest in Larissa (5.5 euros). A similar increase is observed in office sales prices, with the highest average price per square meter in the southern suburbs of Athens at 2,030.8 euros (+ 6.3% compared to 2019) and in the northern suburbs of Athens at 2,007.3 euros (+ 11.9%). The only exception is Larissa, where office sales prices are down 4.0%. The lowest requested average selling price per square meter is recorded in Patras at 882.9 euros (+ 11.1% compared to 2019).
Regarding the stores, significant increases are observed both in the requested rental prices and in the selling prices in all areas of the research, with the largest changes being observed in the sales prices of stores in the eastern suburbs of Athens (+ 16.3%), Heraklion Crete (+ 14.9%) and Piraeus (+ 14.7%). The northern suburbs of Athens also hold the first place in the ranking of requested selling prices per square meter (2,542.3 euros), with Patras having the lowest price (986.5 euros). As for the store rentals, the average requested rental price per square meter in the northern suburbs of Athens is remarkable, which has skyrocketed to 16.1 euros (+ 5.1%) and in the center, to 13.5 euros (+8.6 %). The largest increase in the requested rental prices of stores compared to the last quarter of 2019, is observed in Piraeus (11.5%).
The prices of warehouses for sale for professional use present a different picture, as on the one hand throughout Athens there is a fall – up to 12.6% in the eastern suburbs – and on the other hand in the other areas where the Spitogatos survey was carried out there is an increase in fact, 15.2% in Thessaloniki and 10% in Patras. As for the requested warehouse rental prices, there are mostly small increases, with the largest being observed in Thessaloniki (10.3%) and the northern suburbs of Athens (9.6%).
Across the country, the asking rental prices had a small drop of 1% in offices and 9% in stores, while they rose by 23% in warehouses compared to last year. The requested selling prices increased in all three categories of commercial real estate, more specifically + 6% in offices, + 11% in stores and + 33% in warehouses.
The CEO of Spitogatos, Dimitris Melachrinos, notes: “Despite the flourishing of the model of telework or working part-time, we find that the asking prices for the sale of business premises not only did not fall during the last quarter of 2020, unlike most areas where the survey was conducted, there was an increase and even a significant one, which is reflected in the overall picture of annual price changes.We are interested to see on the one hand the new working models economy of the country, and whether these will affect the evolution of prices but also the general balance of supply and demand of commercial real estate nationwide”.