- Greece’s growing number of vacant homes exposes a housing paradox despite rising rental demand.
- Renovation costs, inheritance disputes and ownership complications keep thousands of properties off the market.
- Kenya faces calls to explore vacant homes as part of its affordable housing strategy.
A housing paradox is unfolding in Greece, where hundreds of thousands of residential properties remain unoccupied even as workers, university students and ordinary families struggle to afford decent accommodation. The situation raises important questions about Kenya’s own housing strategy and whether the solution lies only in constructing new homes or also unlocking the potential of existing vacant properties.
Greece is confronting a housing contradiction that has attracted growing attention: approximately 794,000 homes remain vacant, yet the cost of renting accommodation continues to rise beyond the reach of many ordinary households.
The Municipality of Athens alone accounts for more than 117,000 vacant properties, according to the 2021 census, while tens of thousands of residential units have no electricity connection.
The problem is not simply that Greece lacks houses. A significant proportion of its existing housing stock remains outside the rental market because owners cannot afford renovations, properties are entangled in inheritance disputes, ownership arrangements remain unresolved or landlords are unwilling to accept prevailing rental offers.
The pressure is particularly evident in Athens, where the average asking rent for residential properties measuring up to 80 square metres has reached approximately Ksh 1,834 per square metre. In 2019, comparable properties in neighbourhoods such as Kypseli and Patissia were advertised at approximately Ksh 866 to Ksh 938 per square metre.
At the current average rate, renting a 60-square-metre apartment costs approximately Ksh 110,018 monthly. That figure is almost equivalent to the Ksh 111,461 net monthly minimum wage used in the comparison. It leaves a tenant with virtually no money for electricity, heating, food, transport and other essential expenses.
A 40-square-metre ground-floor apartment in Amerikis Square was advertised at approximately Ksh 93,847 monthly. For someone earning the equivalent of Ksh 111,461 net monthly, that single expense would consume about 84 per cent of their income.
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One of the most serious consequences of Greece’s housing difficulties is the growing financial burden placed on university students and their families. For thousands of young people admitted to institutions outside their hometowns, securing university admission is only the beginning of another expensive journey.
In central Athens, a 35-square-metre studio apartment is estimated to cost approximately Ksh 63,527 monthly, while a 50-square-metre one-bedroom property goes for about Ksh 90,959. Some students are forced to seek shared accommodation, live considerable distances from their institutions or postpone their studies because their families cannot meet the cost of maintaining them away from home.
The crisis therefore extends beyond the property market. It affects educational opportunities, social mobility and the financial independence of young people.
The central question is why properties remain unoccupied when there is substantial demand for accommodation. An Alpha Bank study identifies renovation expenses as the leading obstacle, with 42 per cent of owners with vacant homes citing the cost of repairs as a major challenge. Greece has an ageing housing stock, with approximately 64 per cent of residential properties constructed before 1990.
Inheritance complications constitute another significant obstacle. Approximately 21 per cent of owners cite multiple co-ownership arrangements or unresolved succession matters. There are also landlords who fear rent defaults, property damage and lengthy legal disputes with tenants.
The National Bank of Greece previously estimated that approximately 250,000 homes had deteriorated to the extent that they could not be occupied without substantial intervention. The bank also identified an estimated Ksh 5.05 trillion investment shortfall in property repairs and maintenance accumulated during the country’s financial crisis.
The Greek government has introduced incentives aimed at encouraging property owners to return unused residential units to the long-term rental market. Among the interventions is a three-year income tax exemption for qualifying owners who make properties that have remained vacant for three years available for long-term rental.
However, early implementation figures suggest that restoring unused housing stock is more complicated than simply offering tax incentives.
The Alpha Bank study recommends establishing a comprehensive register of vacant properties using information from the land registry and tax authorities. The broader lesson is that housing policies must address the reasons properties remain unused rather than concentrating exclusively on increasing construction.
Greece’s experience presents an important policy question for Kenya: could part of the country’s housing challenge be addressed by identifying, renovating and returning existing vacant properties to productive use?
Kenya has placed considerable emphasis on expanding housing supply through its Affordable Housing Programme. However, the national housing conversation should not be limited to the number of new apartments being constructed.
It should also establish how many existing residential properties remain unoccupied, where they are located, their physical condition and why their owners have kept them outside the rental market. In major urban centres, including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret, demand for decent accommodation continues to put pressure on household budgets.
The government should consider conducting a comprehensive national assessment of unoccupied homes. The exercise could bring together the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Lands, the State Department for Housing and county governments.
The assessment should identify habitable vacant properties, abandoned buildings, unfinished residential developments and homes requiring substantial renovation. It should also establish the number of properties affected by inheritance disputes, multiple ownership arrangements and other legal complications.
Importantly, the government should distinguish between homes that can immediately enter the rental market and those requiring significant investment.
Kenya should explore incentives that encourage property owners to renovate ageing residential buildings and make them available for long-term occupation. Some landlords may be willing to rent out their properties but lack the financial resources to undertake major repairs.
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Affordable renovation loans, conditional grants and targeted tax incentives could help unlock this housing stock.
Every year, students secure admission to universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions far from their homes, only to encounter the additional challenge of finding affordable accommodation.
The government should encourage universities, colleges, county governments and private investors to expand properly serviced student hostels. Where suitable vacant public buildings exist, authorities could assess their conversion into student accommodation.
Kenya could examine whether targeted tax incentives would encourage owners of long-vacant residential properties to rent them out. There is also room for a national debate on whether carefully designed vacant-property taxation could discourage prolonged non-occupation of habitable homes in areas experiencing severe housing pressure.
However, such a policy would require safeguards for properties undergoing renovation, those affected by inheritance disputes and buildings that are genuinely unfit for habitation.
The Greek experience also highlights the importance of measuring housing affordability against actual household incomes. A residential unit should not be considered affordable merely because it falls under a government or developer classification.
Its cost must be evaluated against the income of the intended occupant, including rent, transport, utilities, maintenance and other essential expenses. Location is equally important. Cheaper housing situated far from employment centres can expose occupants to high transport expenses, undermining the affordability achieved through lower rent.
Greece’s experience demonstrates that constructing additional houses does not automatically resolve a housing crisis. A country can have hundreds of thousands of vacant properties and still experience severe rental pressure when existing homes are unaffordable, deteriorated or excluded from the market.
Kenya must therefore pursue two complementary approaches: increasing the supply of new affordable homes while finding ways to restore and utilise residential properties that already exist.
The critical question is no longer simply how many houses Kenya needs to build. It is also how many existing homes could be brought back into use to help a population struggling with the rising cost of accommodation.
By Hillary Muhalya
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