By Joseph Kalaydjian, Founder & CEO, Cheez Hospitality
Most owners decide to sell an Athens apartment on a feeling: the tenant who stopped paying, the repair bill, the flight they do not want to take again. A sale is a numbers decision. Two of them.
Number one: what the apartment nets in a year, run properly
Not what it earns today. What it would earn furnished, priced every day and rented on the tenure that pays best: short, mid or long term.
Then take everything off: cleaning, utilities, building fees, insurance, maintenance, property tax, income tax and whoever runs it. What is left is number one.
Two warnings. First, an empty apartment does not net zero. It nets minus: building fees, property tax and the slow damage of a closed home. Second, be suspicious of anyone who promises short-term will double your income. After costs, a well-run short-term let in Athens nets the owner roughly 20 to 30% more than a long-term lease. Sometimes long-term wins, and anyone worth hiring will tell you so.
Number two: what it sells for today, net
The price a buyer will actually pay, minus the costs of selling: agent, lawyer, any tax due and the repairs a buyer will demand before signing.
Be realistic about that last line. 86% of the homes sold in greater Athens are more than 20 years old, and buyers price the renovation in.
Divide the first by the second
Say the apartment would net you €9,000 a year, run properly, and would sell for €180,000 after costs. €9,000 divided by €180,000 is 5%.
That 5% is the return you are choosing to keep. Now compare it with what the €180,000 would do for you elsewhere, after tax: a deposit, a bond, another property, a loan paid off.
- If the alternative clearly beats it, with less effort, sell.
- If it does not, keep the apartment and make it earn.
The example numbers are illustrative. Yours will be different, which is the point of doing the sum.
Four things that move the answer
Where it is. In central Athens new short-term registrations are frozen to the end of 2027, and an existing registration is deleted when the property changes hands. If your apartment holds one, its income is worth more to you than to any buyer. That points to keeping.
What state it is in. A dated apartment earns less and sells for less. Design, furniture and a renovation lift both numbers, and it is the same work whether you keep or sell.
Where you live. If you are abroad, running it yourself is not a real option. Put the cost of an operator into number one before you compare.
Who owns it. Co-owners who disagree cannot let and cannot sell. Settle that first.
If you sell, sell a working asset
A buyer pays for income they can check: a year of statements, the reviews, a full calendar. An empty apartment sells on square metres. An operated one sells on what it earns.
That is why we run property before we sell it, and why the buyer can keep us on. Buy · Set Up · Operate · Sell.
Get number one for your apartment
We visit, measure and give you number one in writing: what your apartment earns short, mid and long term, after every cost. The visit is free.
Get your free yield estimate or message the Athens desk on WhatsApp: +30 695 169 7229.
This is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice.
Designed Living. Operated by Cheez.
