Greece Sees Demand for Airbnb-type Rentals Continue into October

Santorini island, Greece.

September and October pre-bookings for stays at properties in Greece registered on short-term rental platforms will help extend the country’s tourism season, according to a study by the Panhellenic Network of E-Real Estates.

Released on Friday, the study refers to demand for short-term rentals in Greece with pre-bookings having reached 85-95 percent for September and 60-80 percent for October.

According to the study, there is significant interest for stay at short-term rental properties on 13 islands of the country that are spread out in the Cyclades (Naxos, Paros, Santorini, Tinos, Mykonos, Andros, Kea, Kythnos), the Dodecanese (Patmos), the Sporades (Skiathos, Skopelos) and also the Saronic (Hydra, Spetses).

Some Greek islands have 500-600 properties (or even less than 300) registered on short-term rental platforms (Airbnb and others) and others have a few thousand properties for rent (Mykonos, Santorini, Paros, Tinos, Naxos).

“In any case, the course of pre-bookings shows that the short-term rental accommodation model can help extend the tourism season,” said the president of the Panhellenic Network of E-Real Estate, Themistoklis Bakas.

Demand is peaking

Kythnos Island, Greece.

According to the study, pre-bookings at short-term rentals in Greece’s popular island destinations are seeing a rise for the first days of September and October.

The destination with the highest demand (95 percent) for short-term rental stay in Greece for the first five days of September is Santorini (3,739 properties listed on platforms). The island of Skiathos (631 proerties) follows with pre-bookings at 89 percent and then is Hydra (329 properties) with demand at 88 percent, Skopelos (824 properties) with pre-bookings at 86 percent and Naxos (2,411 properties) with demand at 82 percent. The list of destinations with the highest demand for stay at short-term rentals includes Kythnos (268 properties), Paros (2,902 properties) and Mykonos (3,615 properties).

Regarding the first five days of October, Santorini again is in the lead as with demand at 83 percent. Naxos is next in demand with pre-bookings for a short-term rental property on the island at 74 percent, followed by Hydra and Paros with pre-bookings at 69 percent and Skiathos and Skopelos with pre-bookings at 68 percent.

Rising demand since beginning of the year

Citing data from AirDNA, the study shows that demand for short-term rentals during the summer season, based on bookings made for July, August and September, was up by 26.5 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2019, recording a top performance in Europe.

“Since the beginning of 2022, we have reported that the short-term rental industry this summer will surpass 2019 levels, which can be confirmed,” Bakas told local media.

Skopelos island, Greece

Moreover, AirDNA’s data showed that demand in the short-term rental industry through to March of this year recorded a 232 percent increase in demand for the months of June, July and August compared to the corresponding period in 2021.

Data also showed that short-term rental prices in Greece appear 10 percent more expensive on average compared to 2019.

“This year the revenue target is 1.4 billion euros, surpassing the turnover of 2019 with the short-term rental sector being part of the recovery of the tourism industry of our country,” Bakas said.