Exarchia, Athens' famously radical district, is in the middle of a quiet but dramatic transformation. Israeli investors ...

Exarchia, Athens' famously radical district, is in the middle of a quiet but dramatic transformation. Israeli investors have become the largest group of foreign buyers in the Attica region, according to an annual survey by RE/MAX Hellas, and locals say their neighbourhood is the epicentre. Residents have been digitally mapping foreign property purchases using public records, marking each one with a red dot. When 69-year-old architect Tonia Katerini zoomed out on the map, the screen was a sea of red. Her group estimates that Israelis are behind more than half of the new company-run hotels and short-term rentals in the area. The backlash has been visible. Buildings across Exarchia have been splattered with red paint, keypads for Airbnb key boxes smashed, and slogans painted across facades. In a neighbourhood where Palestinian flags hang from balconies, the arrival of Israeli investment capital has added a sharp political edge to what is already a fierce gentrification fight. Schoolteacher Chrysoulla Papageorgiou, a 24-year resident, described how the change came slowly, then all at once. After the pandemic, companies began buying entire blocks. Tenants were displaced overnight, old bookshops and grocers closed, and low-income families were the first to be priced out. Riot police are now a daily presence in the neighbourhood since construction of a new metro station fenced off Exarchia Square in 2022. The Greek government is now trying to cool the market. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced last month that transfer tax for non-EU homebuyers will rise from 3 percent to 15 percent starting next July. No new short-term rental licences are being issued in central Athens through at least the end of 2027. The Jerusalem Post described the shift bluntly, writing that "the party is over in Greece." Estate agent Iryna Rondyak, who works near Exarchia, said foreign buyers made up 70 percent of her sales until around 2024. This year that figure is down to 30 percent, partly driven by a state-backed mortgage scheme for young Greeks called "Spiti mou." She credits the new rules, but notes rents remain high at 10 to 15 euros per square metre even in the southern ...