ATHENS, October 2026 — Exarchia short-term rentals, many of them owned by Israeli investors, are pushing up rents and changing the Athens neighbourhood, residents told Al Jazeera in a report published on Monday 19 October.
Al Jazeera correspondent Nils Adler spoke to residents, activists and estate agents about Exarchia short-term rentals. The district is long known for its left-wing politics and its open support for the Palestinian cause.
Tonia Katerini, a 69-year-old architect, has lived in Exarchia since 1986. She said she and a group of neighbours have spent months mapping foreign property purchases from public records. By the group’s own count, Israeli money is behind more than half of the new company-run hotels and Exarchia short-term rentals. Greek City Times could not independently verify that figure.
Exarchia short-term rentals and local anger
Exarchia short-term rentals have become a target for activists, according to the report. One slogan on a residential building reads “Airbnbs leave us homeless”, while another reads “Zionists not welcome”. Activists have also splashed red paint on key boxes and facades.
Chrysoulla Papageorgiou is a 46-year-old schoolteacher who has lived in the area for 24 years. She said companies began buying whole blocks after the COVID-19 pandemic. “Overnight, tenants were displaced and apartment blocks emptied,” she said.
According to Papageorgiou, migrants and low-income families were the first to leave. Schools then lost pupils, while old bookshops, cafes and grocers closed. She also said buyers in recent years have been “almost only Israeli”.
Katerini said foreign buyers see Greece as a safer place for their money than Israel. She also described the Greek government as “very friendly with Israel”. In August, Greece signed a missile deal with Israel worth US$3.5 billion, Al Jazeera noted.
Estate agents point to location
However, estate agent Vagelis Lazaridis said the reasons for the investment were purely practical. He heads a branch of the Athens-Attica Real Estate Agents’ Association. Lazaridis described Exarchia as “a run-down area” that offered “a very good opportunity”.
The district sits beside the city centre, close to the metro and to universities, Lazaridis said. Unlike Plaka, beneath the Acropolis, it also has few building restrictions. Once a handful of buyers arrive, others follow, he added.
No official figures break down foreign buyers in Athens by nationality. Still, a RE/MAX Hellas survey of completed sales found Israelis were the largest group of foreign buyers in Attica. Buyers from Türkiye and Lebanon followed. Greek City Times reported in January that Israelis, Turks and Lebanese led foreign purchases in 2025.
Non-residents invested a record €2.75 billion in Greek real estate in 2024, according to the Bank of Greece. The total then eased in 2025.
A district with a political past
Activism in the area has deep roots, long before the debate over Exarchia short-term rentals. Students at the nearby Athens Polytechnic rose up in 1973 against the military junta, which fell the following year. In December 2008, a police officer shot dead 15-year-old student Alexandros Grigoropoulos in the district, sparking protests across Greece.
Since 2022, Exarchia Square has been a fenced-off construction site for a new metro station, which many residents opposed. In February, Greek City Times reported on residents blocking the metro site to reclaim public space. Riot police are now a daily presence, Papageorgiou said.
Exarchia short-term rentals face new limits
The government is now trying to cool the market. In September, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a higher property transfer tax for buyers from outside the European Union. The rate will rise from 3 per cent to 15 per cent. Lazaridis said agents’ associations oppose the plan, which has yet to become law.
Additionally, a freeze on new licences covers Exarchia short-term rentals and the rest of central Athens. Authorities extended it to the end of 2027 in September, Al Jazeera reported. Properties bought under the golden visa residency scheme can now only be let long-term.
Iryna Rondyak, a Ukrainian-born agent, runs her own agency near Exarchia. She said foreigners made up about 70 per cent of her sales until around 2024. This year, the share is about 30 per cent, she said. State-backed “Spiti mou” (My Home) loans are bringing young Greek buyers back.
“Anyone living in Greece couldn’t find a home in the centre. Everything was on Airbnb,” Rondyak said. She described the market as “a little better”, but added that “the problem still exists”.
Even so, residents say the freeze is temporary and does not undo Exarchia short-term rentals already operating. Papageorgiou counts herself lucky, since her landlady refuses to raise the rent as an “act of resistance”, Al Jazeera reported.
Source: Al Jazeera
The post Exarchia Residents Map Israeli Property Buys as Rents Climb appeared first on Greek City Times.