The island is majestic, but such beauty comes at a steep price.
Today I’m on the Greek island of Mykonos to visit something that all of us in Louisville and southern Indiana want to know about: The prices of living on a gorgeous island like this. This place has water, scenery, and sun. But one thing you need if you decide to come here is a whole lot of money.
An average kilo of fish here is about €30, Olivia Khoromama, a tour guide with Rhapsody Travel, told us. She took us around the island of Mykonos and showed us that even though it’s gorgeous, it’s also very expensive to live here. Food, in general, is something that people try to economize on because the supermarket budget has put a strain on the island in recent years. Especially now, with a lot of petrol prices rising and the Ukraine war and then COVID and things like that, the price of going to the supermarket alone is excruciatingly high. If you wanted to try to rent an apartment here in the past 3 to 4 years, the prices have gone sky high. One of the problems is Airbnb. They’ve increased the prices of rentals here substantially. A small little house on a plot of land with no sea view would have been about €70,000 back in the day, and we’re talking about a short seven or eight years ago. Nowadays, you will be paying about €3 million for an area that has a view. In an area that doesn’t have a view, you will still be paying about half a million euros just for the plot of land.
“One thing you need if you decide to come here is a whole lot of money.”
Another problem here is finding people to work in the many stores. Laborers on the island are coming from all parts of the world but the cost of renting a home or an apartment has created a serious shortage of employees on the island. Take a look at the video at 2:09. One look here, and you go, “Hey, I’d like to live here myself and maybe work on the island,” until you find out how expensive it is.
Olivia drives home the point. Make sure you’ve got deep, deep pockets. Even in renting terms, you’re still looking at quite a lot of money. For a small house, it’s around €700 per month, but most people who come here want a sea view. So you’re going from a minimum of €1,000 per month if you want that seaview. That’s a lot of money to have to dish out.
One more thing that Mykonos has that’s a real benefit: Our winds. The wind average here is about 55 to 75 miles an hour, almost every day, depending upon what season it is. So don’t expect to wear a hat. Don’t worry about your hair. It’s going to blow—I guarantee it.
By the time you see this, I will be back in the States, back in Louisville, in my office. If you want to talk about moving to Mykonos(probably not) or about putting your home on the market, we can help you immediately. Give me a call at (502) 376-5483.
