The candidate for the president of PASOK, Anna Diamantopoulou, spoke from Thessaloniki – where the TIF every year marks the beginning of a new economic and political period for the country – about the need for a new Social Agreement. This means specific policies.

Mrs. Diamantopoulou emphasizes that “from 2005 until today, our country has not recorded a lower rate of home ownership. The current situation is not the result of short-sightedness, while the attraction of foreign home buyers and the continued support of the Golden Visa program were pre-election commitments of New Democracy before the 2019 elections, which it faithfully implemented. It was a conscious political choice by Kyriakos Mitsotakis.”

He then added that taking into account the international experience, the proposals of the agencies and the elaborations of Greek institutes, he submitted 11 proposals that PASOK should collectively elaborate on the following day, “because”, as he emphasized, “there is no problem without a solution and politicians exist to provide solutions”.

The proposals:

1. Exploitation of State properties. The state has received 450,000 properties from inheritance refusals, just in the five years 2013-2018. They remain unutilized, while there is no central agency for their active management. We propose the immediate establishment of a relevant body, with a political mandate to immediately record and exploit the total stock, as well as its geographical and quality characteristics.

For properties that need major repairs or renovation, selling them on favorable terms so that they can be put to good use. For properties that can be rented, we recommend offering them to the market immediately.

The exploitation of these properties, in addition to alleviating the housing crisis, can also provide valuable fiscal space (even over 1 billion per year) to strengthen the welfare state.

2. Unblocking the tens of thousands of cases where for bureaucratic reasons a house cannot be sold/rented (eg because a document is missing).

3. The state should sell each of its shares in real estate in an undivided manner, in order to unblock its exploitation, at the objective price.

4. Law based on which all institutions, municipalities and Public Law bodies must within three years have taken out for exploitation all their properties that are built and not being exploited. There is no point in having hundreds of thousands of foreclosed properties, about which no one says/does anything, the institution/organization loses revenue and the supply decreases. Recommended procedure:

  • Tenders for each property separately (so that citizens can participate and not just the big players)
  • Long-term rental so that someone has a reason to invest.
  • The offer should also include the renovation that the bidder may undertake to carry out.

5. Return on Tourism revenues. Municipalities on each island to designate sites for construction of housing for civil servants (such as teachers, nurses and doctors), through PPP programs, to be financed by revenues from hotels and short-term rentals.

6. Properties of “unknown owner”. Creation of a body for their recording and exploitation. Properties that were not declared during the cadastral process are registered in the cadastral database as “unknown owner”. With the completion of the land registration process, these properties become the property of the State, based on Law 2664/1998.

7. Incentives for Fund/Servicers of the banks to immediately market properties up to 200 sq.m.

8. Three-year tax exemption for new leases of vacant properties (whether the property was vacant or had an active short-term rental AMA).

9. Digital platform for student residences. To develop a simple and easily configurable software for a digital platform of supply and demand of student housing, which will operate on a permanent basis. Through the platform, owners of housing intended for rent to students, as well as interested brokers, will be able to list available housing in a timely manner. This will facilitate the new students.

10. Establishment of a PPP program for Student Residences in all University Campuses, with the cooperation of municipalities and the government.

11. Obligation for banks to put on the market, within 18 months, all the properties they own. Fine for any property that remains unreasonably off the market.