Which Attributes Influence the Housing Markets Across the Greek Islands?

Abstract

We analyze the drivers of the housing markets across the Greek Islands. Very little is known and documented about these markets in the literature. By reviewing the extant literature on housing market drivers in general, we delineate how various attributes characterize these housing markets. Heterogeneity in terms of properties, neighborhoods, settlements, islands, and groups of islands contributes to a diverse housing market. At the same time, the political environment, the recent economic recession, complex and unstable institutional frameworks, as well as being an increasingly popular tourist destination have created an environment with considerable housing research interest. By using a unique dataset of properties, we apply the hedonic modelling framework to ascertain the impacts of certain amenities and drivers that may affect housing values and market functioning across the Greek Islands. Our results, while confirming the standard results from the broad literature, also reveal some distinctive effects in the Greek Islands.