By Joseph Kalaydjian, Founder & CEO, Cheez Hospitality
A building in Athens with five, ten or twenty flats is rarely one owner's decision. It is often inherited, shared between relatives, half empty and half let on old leases. Before you call an agent, decide what you are actually selling: a building, or a set of apartments.
Who buys a whole building in Athens
Three kinds of buyer, and each pays for something different.
- Investors who want an operated building: furnished apartments or an aparthotel, rented short, mid and long term. They pay for income they can check.
- Developers who want to renovate and resell flat by flat. They pay for square metres and the margin after works.
- Family offices and buyers from abroad, often Lebanese, Gulf and Greek diaspora investors. They pay for a clean file and someone on the ground to run it.
The same building can be worth noticeably more to the first buyer than to the second. Knowing which buyer you are selling to comes before the price.
Whole, or flat by flat
Selling the building whole means one negotiation, one notary and one buyer. Buyers ask for a discount for size, and they will price every empty flat as a problem.
Selling flat by flat usually brings a higher total and takes longer. Each flat needs its own registered title and certificates, and every buyer brings their own lawyer and their own questions. Your lawyer confirms first whether the building is already divided into separate titles.
A third route sits between the two: set the building up, rent it, and sell it whole as a working asset with a year of statements behind it.
The two numbers for a building
Number one is what the building nets in a year, run properly. Flat by flat: furnished, priced every day, on the tenure that pays best, minus cleaning, utilities, common costs, insurance, maintenance, taxes and whoever runs it.
Number two is what it sells for today, net of the costs of selling, both whole and flat by flat.
Divide the first by the second. If the building returns less than your money would earn elsewhere, sell. If it returns more, keep it and make it earn, or sell it later as a working asset.
Four things that move the price
Licences. In central Athens new short-term registrations are frozen to the end of 2027, and an existing registration is deleted when a property changes hands. A buyer cannot inherit yours. Plan the income on mid-term stays of 60 days or more, which sit outside the short-term regime, and on long-term leases.
Condition. 86% of the homes sold in greater Athens are more than 20 years old, and buyers price the renovation in. A dated building sells on the cost of its works.
Tenants. Sitting tenants on old leases lower the price for an investor and stop a developer. Know every lease, its rent and its end date before you talk to anyone.
Owners. Inherited buildings often belong to several heirs. Co-owners who disagree cannot sell and cannot let. Settle that first, with your lawyer.
Sell it earning
An empty building sells on square metres. An operated one sells on what it earns: a full calendar, the reviews and twelve months of statements a buyer can check. That is why we set buildings up and run them before they are sold, and why the buyer can keep us on. Buy · Set Up · Operate · Sell.
Get the two numbers for your building
We visit, measure and send you both numbers in writing, whole and flat by flat. Free, by email, within three working days.
Get your two numbers
· Στα ελληνικά
Want to keep it and let it earn instead? Property management in Athens. Needs work first? Design and furnishing.
This is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice.
Designed Living. Operated by Cheez.
