(MENAFN- AFP) Costas, a two-decade real estate construction veteran, has never seen the sector so vital to Greece's economy in such a sorry state.
"Construction is dead, the crisis has destroyed everything," bemoaned the 50-year-old, who declined to give his last name.
Greece's six-year recession and brush with bankruptcy has seen prices tumble by nearly a third for residential property, a key means for many to invest and save for retirement.
Experts also blame government policy as new taxes on property owners to balance public finances as required under its EU-IMF bailout have worsened the situation.
"The recession and brutal taxation on property has destroyed the sector" which was major employer, said Costas.
Building activity in Greece tumbled by 44 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to a year earlier, state statistics show.
In the construction business proper, recent studies point to a loss of over 185,000 jobs since 2010, half of the sector's workforce.
New construction has dried up, with only some renovation work to be found.
Costas is now closing his construction materials business, which before Greece's economy imploded in 2010 had an annual turnover of 2.5 million euros ($3.5 million).
And he is also unable to sell a three-storey building in Athens he bought with a loan before the crisis.
"I'm begging the bank to auction it off so I can pay off my debts," he told AFP.
Sector experts believe there are 250,000 new buildings awaiting buyers in Greece.
To help the sector, the government is offering residence permits to non-EU investors purchasing or renting property worth over 250,000 euros.
But meanwhile, new legislation is in the works to increase tax on agricultural land, on top of recent hikes to the general property tax.
This while overdue tax payments had climbed to 809 million euros in September, according to the Greek daily Kathimerini.
'Condemning families to insecurity'
More pressure is on the way for homeowners already hit.
A ban on housing auctions to protect struggling owners from eviction expires at the end of the year, and will not be renewed in 2014.
Stratos Paradias, head of the Hellenic property federation (POMIDA), warns that the austerity imposed by Greece's creditors threatens to wipe out the property investment-based savings system that has supported Greek families for decades.
"Investing in property is a tradition for Greeks, a fall-back to counterbalance shortages in state welfare," Paradias said.
"This is now disappearing, condemning families to insecurity. Some are even donating property to simply get rid of it," he noted.
The residential housing market is moribund as there are few buyers and banks are plagued with growing numbers of bad loans.
"Prices have fallen by over 30 percent these past three years. It's because of the taxes imposed by the (EU-IMF) creditors and the economic uncertainty," Paradias said.
According to a study by leading Greek union GSEE, 75 percent of mortgage payments are in arrears.
This represents a sum of 65 billion euros and mainly involves urban property, mainly in Athens.
The average debt per homeowner in mortgage trouble is 94,000 euros, GSEE said.
On the other side, non-performing bank loans have reached 59.6 billion euros according to sector reports, including 30 billion euros regarding business loans and 16.8 billion euros from mortgages.
Economist Christos Galanos believes few foreign investors will come to Greece given these rates and they will instead wait for the economy to pick up.
"The government should have taken action when housing prices were soaring before 2009. Instead of trying to suppress the bubble, it (allowed banks) to give mortgage incentives," said Galanos.
"When the crisis arrived, it was not ready to manage the free fall in housing prices," he added.
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