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An extensive survey conducted by the Institute for Small Enterprises of the Greek confederation of professional craftsmen and traders in cooperation with the marketing research and communication company MARC reveals the great concern of Greek households in relation to the probability of them losing their houses. The survey was conducted in December in order to take into account the effects of property taxation, depending on the disposable income, tax and other liabilities.

The conclusions drawn from the data are as follows:

35% of households have accumulated debts, which will probably not be covered over the next year. As noted by the Institute, the new tax will intensify the financial burden on households and it is expected that overdue obligations will increase as a result of it.

The survey confirms the high percentage of ownership of real estate among Greek households. 86.7% of the population own some kind of property. In households with an unemployed person, this percentage does not significantly differ (84.9 %). This means that the ownership of real estate is largely the saving remedy against the danger of extreme poverty and social exclusion in the absence of elementary structures for the provision of social protection. This conclusion is supported by the high rate of the risk of poverty facing the Greek households (over 30 %) as shown by a recent study by Eurostat. Consequently, according to the Greek confederation of professional craftsmen and traders, the possession of a property should not be automatically considered as an option for the reception of private means.

Institute for Small Enterprises

28.1% of households, which are living in their own houses, have obtained a housing loan. This means that nearly 1 million households are living in properties burdened with a bank loan.

From those 1 million households with housing loans, 168,000 households (16.8 %) constantly have overdue obligations and 220,000 households (22%) usually pay their instalment with frequent delays. As noted by the Greek confederation of professional craftsmen and traders, this fact is confirmed by the recent data from the Bank of Greece, which has reported an increase in non-performing loans of over 30%. The confederation adds that if business loans provided with tangible collateral (a mortgage of personal property) are taken into account, the problem will become even more significant.

Institute for Small Enterprises

One of every three families is afraid of losing their house because of the accumulated obligations and because of the extra burdens (loans, taxes, etc.). The Institute for Small Enterprises emphasizes that this uncertainty leads to a vicious cycle of disinvestment and to a decline in real estate prices.

This year, over 45% of households had to pay more than 500-euro property tax. If we take into account the over-taxation of income and the reduction of the latter, then every second household paid one wage minimum to cover its property tax.

Institute for Small Enterprises

The vast majority of households believe that the unemployed and the unused property (closed shops and unrented houses) should be afforded a zero property tax rate. In addition, it should be lower for real estate burdened with a bank loan and for companies that use the property for production activities.

In today's economic situation, neither the auctioning of the houses of bank debtors, nor the levying of higher taxes will solve the problem of the high public and private debt. To the contrary, they will exacerbate the situation, as stated by the president of the Greek confederation of professional craftsmen and traders George Kavatas.