Athens is in a housing crisis.
Athenians are less and less able to afford buying a house, unable to pay their ever-increasing rents, and slowly are being pushed out of the center of the city. Since 2017 housing prices have increased by nearly 90%, rent prices have ballooned by over 50% in the last five years, and Greek households currently face the highest housing cost burden in the EU.
But it wasn’t always this way– in 2005 nearly 85% of Greeks owned their own home.
So how did we get here, and what is the history of housing in Athens? We spoke with Thomas Maloutas, a professor of Social Geography and Thematic Chartography who has been studying Athens for decades.
In this episode we dig into the history the housing geography of Athens, and the blocky off-white apartment buildings that seem to dominate the center of the metropolis. We start with how a mid-century land-for-flats system called antiparochi determined the urban structure of the city. Maloutas then explains his research into vertical segregation in Athens, how it came about, how it has been perpetuated through the decades, and what it means for city dwellers.
We also explore how Greece’s protracted economic crisis has reshaped home ownership, examine the impact of short-term rental platforms like Airbnb on housing, look at real estate speculation and its ties to tourism, and map some “deprivation areas” in Athens. Ultimately the question is, what can actually be done to address Athens’ housing issues?
Listen now to this week’s episode. And for next time follow “Explaining Greece” on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and turn on your notifications to be the first to listen to our new episodes every Thursday.
