The Bank of Greece released the latest figures on apartment prices last week, and the first quarter showed a continuing decline in apartment prices.

The data was collected from credit institutions. Overall apartment prices dropped by an average of 1.8 percent in the first quarter, which followed the average annual rate of decline of 2.4 percent in 2016 and 5.1 percent in 2015, according to a press release.

When separated by age, the prices of apartments considered new, which are up to five years old, dropped by 2 percent, while those over five years old fell by 1.7 percent. In previous years, the new apartments dropped by 3 percent on average and older apartments dropped by 2 percent in 2016, the release stated. The prices of new and older apartments also dropped in 2015 by 5.6 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.

The data also showed that other geographical areas of Greece had the lowest decline in the first quarter at 1.3 percent over last year, while Thessaloniki apartment prices declined by 2.7 percent. The largest declines were shown in cities outside of Athens and Thessaloniki, at 2.8 percent. Athens prices declined by 1.4 percent over 2016.

All credit institutions in Greece are required to report detailed data to the Bank of Greece Real Estate Marked Analysis Section, according to the release. The data includes bank appraisals and current market values of residential properties. By the end of the first quarter, 681,600 appraisals had been reported to the Bank of Greece.