Banks Competing to Boost Housing Loans in Greece

Greek banks are racing to close the gap with the rest of Europe in terms of loan disbursements, transitioning into positive credit expansion. The battle for housing loans is taking place alongside government and Greek bank efforts to resolve the housing issue. In this direction, Alpha Bank’s study on increasing residential property offerings and innovative financial solutions developed in collaboration with Unicredit play a significant role. Recently, Piraeus Bank announced a partnership with tech provider Qualco to develop a digital platform focused initially on housing loans. By leveraging artificial intelligence, the platform will enhance the financing experience by simplifying processes from application to disbursement through automated and digitally supported procedures. Future plans include linking the platform with real estate trading platforms. Additionally, Piraeus Bank introduced a new housing loan, ‘Home 25,’ offering a 25% lower fixed interest rate for the first four years and no application fees. Despite gradual recovery in housing loans, credit expansion has yet to turn positive as repayments on older loans remain higher than new disbursements. According to Gikas Hardouvelis, President of the Hellenic Bank Association, while net lending to individuals remains negative (-0.3% in April 2025 compared to 1.9% in the Eurozone), signs of recovery are evident. Meanwhile, loans to businesses are surging at an annual rate of 17.2%, significantly above the Eurozone average of 2.6%. Part of the new lending targets small and medium-sized enterprises and co-financed investment projects under the Recovery Fund.