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The new General Building Regulation that was
recently presented by the Ministry for the
Environment, Energy and Climate Change
enables the construction of higher buildings in
cities in exchange of increased green areas, also
providing developers with extra incentives, since
central stairwells are not any more added to the
floor-area ratio, which, in turn, is increased in the
case of buildings with lower plot ratios. A major
problem has occurred in the center of Athens, as
most residential properties have lost their value
and, as a result, their owners have suffered huge
wealth losses. All over the world, city centres are
irreplaceable, especially the centre of Athens. It is
necessary to prepare a comprehensive plan for the
development of Athens, and put an end to the phe-
nomenon of urban sprawl to outlying areas, which,
as a matter of fact, have no infrastructures, taking
into account the fact that the population of Greece,
and especially Athens, is not expected to grow in
the forthcoming years. It has to be stressed that the
government could form a specialist work-group,
comprising representatives of the country's scientif-
ic personnel, who would present their own propos-
als for the upgrading of the city's centre and the
renewal of the building stock.
Another thorn in the entire market's side is the
issue of taxation. The introduction of a flat tax rate
on rental income was recently put on the table.
This is necessary in order to attract investor inter-
est in Greek commercial properties and, above
all, in order to develop the State's real property.
Leased properties should be taxed only once,
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only at the source, and only at a 20% rate. This
proposal has met with some resistance, since it
mainly hits, it's said, small property owners; obvi-
ously, another formula has to be found especially
for them. The policies pursued by Greek govern-
ments in the past few years have managed to
drive Greek property developers out of the market
– many of them have turned to the property mar-
kets of Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania etc.
Property taxation is a major issue, not only for
developers, but for all Greek citizens.
Our country's economic problem can be solved
through the (fast-track) development of no more
than 5-10 areas of Greece. Dubai is creating isles
in the sea, selling commercial, tourist and residen-
tial properties to international investors at prices
ranging from 5,000 to 30,000 euros per m
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. We, on
the other hand, plunged our country into the current
economic crisis instead of turning Greece, which
has the best climate in the world, a huge cultural
heritage and a unique terrain both in the seaside
and inland, into Europe's Florida during the past 30
years.
I insist that Greece could solve its financial prob-
lems by properly developing the State's real prop-
erty through extroversion policies and tax incen-
tives. Finally, I have to point out to all sides that,
although the problem in the property market may
predominantly concern developers and investors, it
is also important to find ways of providing work for
1,000,000 skilled workers and scientists who are
directly or indirectly involved in construction.