The Olympic games of Athens are already a history. They showed to the whole world that even the smaller countries could organize big international events. To some degree this is good news to all the other smaller nations, the majority in the world, which will apply to host similar events. For the Greeks the Olympic Games 2004 were also an occasion to regain their national pride, and looking forward, to reduce as much as possible the economic gap that separates their country from the leading European nations.

The sportive side of the Olympic games is well documented. The medals were given to the best athletes and they can begin thinking about the next sportive competitions. The Olympic games have another aspect, far away from the stadiums. The financial side is also very important, because it makes possible the spectacular events to be seen on our silver screens. For a small country like Greece the financial burden was especially heavy. An estimated EUR 7 billion, some even say EUR 10 billion, were spent on new infrastructures, many of which could be still used for decades in boosting the national economy and in diversifying the social life.

The financial revenues of the Olympic games that were expected won't be reached in full. Many tourists were afraid of terrorist attacks and simply didn't materialize. To make conclusion that this will cause Greece heavy financial problems isn't convincing. The financial burden was partly taken by the European Union. Greece since 2000 received economic aid from the European Union amounting to EUR 48 billion. Officially this aid represents 3% of the Greek GDP; unofficially it reaches 5-6%. With a sponsor so rich as the European Union Greeks can be tranquil.

The Olympic games for Greece were intended to boost their national pride, which they did successfully. They had to reduce the economic gap between this country and the leading European nations too. For almost 25 years as a EU member, Greece still lags behind the West European core countries in terms of purchasing power parity. The last 4-5 years were good occasion to begin reducing this gap and Greece experienced robust economic growth, helped by huge new investment programs. The task of its government is to use the benign momentum to keep these high economic rates in the coming 10-20 years.

The real estate market in Greece is also still lagging behind the core West European countries in price terms. Reducing the economic gap could have as secondary effect across board price increase. The economic activity of the country is concentrated in 2-3 main centers, which already begin lacking affordable lots for expansion. Foreign investors are looking mainly toward southern coastal areas which soon be also saturated. The remaining more affordable northern regions of the country hide additional risks in terms of criminal activity perpetrated mainly by international gangs.

Greece country profile:

• Area: 131,940 sq km
• Population: 10,647,529 (July 2004 est.)
• Population growth rate: 0.2% (2004 est.)
• Net migration rate: 2.35 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
• Life expectancy at birth: 78.94 years
• GDP per capita: purchasing power parity $19,900 (2003 est.)
• Main trading partners: EU countries, Russia, USA.
• Internet users: 1,704,900 (2002)

(Source: CIA - The World Factbook 2004)

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Greece.