Selected Issues Papers

Housing affordability is a key challenge in Greece despite high homeownership rates and a relatively large housing stock. This paper investigates the drivers of this apparent paradox using regional housing market data and household-level EU-SILC microdata. The analysis shows that affordability pressures resulted from strong and increasingly concentrated demand, high recurring housing costs, persistent supply constraints, and mismatches between the housing stock characteristics of and household needs. The paper discusses reforms to improve affordability, including through a more efficient use of existing stock, a reduction of the risk premium for short-term rental, and better targeted demand support measures.