On June 6, 2025, the government announced that it would cover the equivalent of one month’s rent each year for 80 percent of tenants, a measure framed as support against relentless increases in housing costs. But fresh data suggest the policy has had the opposite effect, especially in the already strained student rental market.
Figures from property platform Spitogatos show that average asking rents for student housing rose by 6.6 percent in July and August compared with the same months last year. The timing of the increase, coming directly after the subsidy announcement, highlights how the measure was interpreted: landlords, confident that tenants now had a financial cushion from the state, raised their demands rather than easing them. In practice, the €230 million program has functioned less as protection for renters than as a guarantee of steady demand, even at higher prices.
Athens, home to the country’s largest universities, has seen rents climb sharply. In Zografou, a neighborhood popular with students, families are now searching for apartments at around €550 a month, up from under €500 in 2024. In Ilisia, demand has pushed typical rents to €500, while in Goudi, close to major university campuses, average prices have reached €630.
The situation is even starker in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city and another major university hub. In Stavroupoli, one of the more affordable districts, average asking rents have surged by 18.3 percent within a year. In Triandria–Doxa–Kryoneri, costs now stand at €10 per square meter, a 13.7 percent increase. In the central neighborhoods of 40 Ekklisies and Evangelistria, rents rose 12.6 percent on an annual basis, putting additional pressure on household budgets.
Elsewhere, university towns show the same trend. In Volos, the average asking price for student housing is now €350, while in Patras it has climbed to €360. In Heraklion, Crete, rents are among the highest in the country, with students competing against the strong pull of the tourism market.
Economists had warned in June that the subsidy risked distorting the market and driving up prices rather than restraining them. By providing a cushion that landlords could factor into their pricing, the policy effectively strengthened their bargaining power. The government pressed ahead regardless, but the result, according to the latest data, has been to intensify the very pressures it was meant to ease.
