Crushed between soaring tax rates and the loss of value on their properties, thousands of Greek commercial building owners are bleeding money and can’t find tenants, even at reduced rents, leading to a vacancy rate of some 30 percent. Even worse, they complain that they are being taxed at rates far higher than the value of their empty storefronts.
The newspaper Kathimerini reported that real estate market professionals invested in property in Greece have being hammered on several fronts and bought at the worst possible time, with their holdings plummeting in value.
Piling on the burden, they said that a doubling of property taxes by former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, now head of the PASOK Socialist party, has left them unable to pay. The levy is put into electricity bills and scores of thousands of customers are having their power turned off for non-payment.
It is estimated that rental rates have declined by 40 to 50 percent since early 2009. Meanwhile, most rented properties show significant delays in the payment of rent. A recent analysis by Alpha Bank showed that an investor with a property worth 2 million euros ($2.67 million) will this year have to pay taxes of about 47,000 euros, ($62,7600 – not including the income tax from rent revenues.
“There are hundreds of cases of owners who have tried in the last year to sell one or two of their stores or offices even below their objective value, but without being able to find a buyer,” a property management company official told Kathimerini. The only solution landlords appear to have is to ask tax authorities to accelerate the process of confirmation of their debt so that their properties are confiscated and put to auction, after which the state can keep the amount for taxes due and the owner can pocket the difference. If there is one.
Greece’s international lenders, the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) have demanded the big tax hikes, along with big pay cuts, in return for bailouts and to insure that banks get paid back first before tax revenues are spent on social services. The coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is imposing another way of austerity measures as ordered.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
