Houses exist, but they don't rent! Thousands of properties remain closed or are put into short-term rentals, and the market is drying up. As a result, Greece is facing a shortfall of around 180,000 homes compared to 2011 (according to a survey by Piraeus Bank), with the market talking about an unprecedented housing suffocation. The picture painted by ELSTAT is revealing. Of the country's 6.6 million homes, 4.3 million are used as primary residences. Of the remaining 2.2 million, 857,000 are holiday homes, 627,000 are secondary, 327,000 are vacant, and some 466,000 are declared "for sale or rent". But, as brokers and market operators point out, a large proportion of these cannot be used: they are old, unrenovated, energy-intensive, or entangled in titles and inheritances. Meanwhile, short-term leases have removed some 208,000 properties from the long-term market, according to Piraeus. In Athens, especially in the center and in tourist...