Exarchia, the Athens district famous for radical left-wing politics and Palestinian solidarity murals, is being quietly ...

Exarchia, the Athens district famous for radical left-wing politics and Palestinian solidarity murals, is being quietly bought up by Israeli investors, and residents are furious. According to a survey by the RE/MAX Hellas agency network, Israelis were the largest group of foreign buyers in the Attica region in recent years, ahead of buyers from Turkey and Lebanon. The neighbourhood, where Palestinian flags hang from balconies, now has buildings spray-painted with slogans like "Zionists not welcome" and "Airbnbs leave us homeless." Tonia Katerini, a 69-year-old architect who has lived in Exarchia since 1986, has spent months digitally mapping foreign property purchases using public records. When she zoomed out on her map, she said, it was a sea of red dots. Her group estimates that more than half of the area's new company-run hotels and short-term rentals are backed by Israeli money. The broader trend is stark. Non-residents invested a record 2.75 billion euros in Greek real estate in 2024, according to the Bank of Greece. Israeli buyers reportedly see Greece as a safer place to park money than Israel itself, and real estate agent Vagelis Lazaridis said Exarchia was simply "a very good opportunity" given its central location and few building restrictions. The human cost is visible on the ground. Schoolteacher Chrysoulla Papageorgiou, a 24-year Exarchia resident, says companies began buying entire apartment blocks after the pandemic. Overnight, tenants were displaced, local bookshops and grocers closed, and schools lost pupils. Riot police are now a daily presence in a neighbourhood that once policed itself. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced last month that the transfer tax for non-EU homebuyers will jump from 3 percent to 15 percent starting next July. No new short-term rental licences are being issued in central Athens, and the freeze runs through the end of 2027. One local estate agent says foreign buyers have already dropped from 70 percent of her sales to about 30 percent this year. Residents say the damage, however, is already done. #Athens #Greece #RealEstate