Three-room apartment close to the port in Pieria was sold for ?168 000 in September. In November the asked price was already ?160 000 and two months later – in January 2009 it falls to ?155 000. Few days ago, the announced price for the property is ?145 000. The realtor had to lower the price with ?5000 and few weeks later with ?23 000 for five months.

The construction businessmen in Greece are close to a nervous crisis. According to data of the realtor firm Aspis Real Estate, the property prices have fallen with 4% and 17% in the beginning of 2009 compared to the first months of 2008 in 16 regions of the Attika district.

Now is the moment for the self-employed to invest – the ones who have “cash.” They can take advantage of the situation and buy cheap newly built apartments from construction firms, which are in a difficult situation. “Such properties can be found in any neighborhood – from Peristeri to Kifisia. There is not rule regarding the region,” notes Miltos Epitimiadis, manager in Aspis Real Estate.

The more the crisis continues, the more the brokers will be pressured. The forecasts for the next few months are not good for them – it is expected that prices will fall with 20%-25% in comparison to 2007.

It is not an accident that marketing techniques are coming to the Greek market, which are applied in the US and Spain, where the crisis has caused fatal damages. Not long ago a real estate firm announced that whoever buys an apartment for ?100 000, they will also get a … sound system.

The value of the presents is increasing in direct ratio with the price of the sold properties. For expensive properties of half a million Euros, the buyer can get an expensive present – a 32 inch TFT TV. But except for the brokers, the construction firms have also started applying promotions. Some of them are already offering a free parking, others are thinking of the idea to give as a present a car together with the sold property.