Greece votes no - but buyers still saying yes to property
A demonstration for the "No" vote in Athens' Syntagma Square on 3rd July Photo: Linmtheu
Greece has voted "no" in a referendum on EU financial proposals. The surprise poll, which was announced last week in the middle of failed negotiations between the Greek government and the country's creditors, saw 61.3 per cent of the population vote against the proposed conditions for a renewed bailout. Only 38.7 per cent voted to accept the offered reforms, which makes the country's ultimate exit from the eurozone more likely, after defaulting on their IMF repayment last Tuesday.
Negotiations will begin again between Greece and EU officials this week.
"The European Commission takes note of and respects the result of the referendum in Greece. President [Jean-Claude] Juncker is consulting with the democratically elected leaders of the other 18 Eurozone members as well as with the Heads of the EU institutions," said the European Commission in a statement.
"He will have a conference call among the "Euro-Institutionals" (with the President of the Euro Summit, the President of the Euro Group and the President of the European Central Bank) on Monday morning. He intends to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
"On Tuesday 7 July at 18h a special Euro Summit will take place to discuss the situation after the referendum in Greece."
The result was followed, though, by the unexpected resignation of the Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis. The minister promised to quit his role in the event of a "yes" vote, but announced his resignation regardless, citing "loathing" among those on the other side of the negotiating table. Indeed, only last week, he referred to the troika's behaviour as "terrorism".
"Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement," he said in a blog post.
"For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today."
"I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride," he added.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is holding meetings today to appoint a new Finance Minister, which could tip the balance back in favour of friendlier negotiations. Indeed, there is optimism among observers that a deal can be reached to keep Greece in the eurozone.
On William Hill, at the time of writing, the odds were in favour of Greece staying in the single currency (4/7 versus 5/4 against).
Greek estate agents, speaking to TheMoveChannel.com earlier this year, were certainly confident that Greece would ultimately remain a member of the eurozone, simply because "both Europe and Greece want this to happen".
Ross Michaelides, Partner at Buy and Sell Estate Agency, an estate agent and developer based in Crete, said that buyers were still voting "yes" fot Greek real estate, arguing that even if a Grexit were to take place, he "still [couldn't] see it making a great difference".
"Local property prices were not "tied" to the Drachma even before Greece entered the euro, they were always linked to the British Pound and/or the Deutsche Mark," he commented.
Greek uncertainty is spreading, though, as new research from TheMoveChannel.com reveals that demand for European property has fallen: after a year of Portugal, France and Italy frequently appearing in the top five rankings in TheMoveChannel.com's monthly chart, all three countries plunged in popularity in June. But buyer and investor favourite Spain bucked the trend, climbing one place to become the most sought-after destination on the site. Greece also climbed one place in the chart to 16th place, followed by Cyprus (up three places) in 17th.
"We are looking forward to a good summer season," added Michaelides.