When PM Alexis Tsipras announced that he was set to put Greece’s creditors’ proposals to a popular vote, lines quickly formed at ATMs despite the fact that the referendum call came after midnight local time. And while the long queues served as a poignant reminder of just how worried the Greek people truly were about the future, the more shocking images surfaced around 24 hours later when the shelves at Greek grocery stores began to resemble those of another socialist paradise: Venezuela.
The empty supermarket shelves [5] and long waits at gas stations presaged the acute credit crunch that accompanied the imposition of capital controls. Ultimately, the Greek economy was crippled as vendors, unable to obtain credit from suppliers, faced the possibility that they would have to close the doors if they couldn’t manage to keep the shelves stocked. In short, an economy already in free fall slipped into a terminal decline.
There’s quite a bit of disagreement about whether or not more austerity will succeed in returning Greece to growth - some say the situation can only get worse under the terms of the proposed third bailout agreement while creditors insist that the mandated "reforms" are meant to put Greece back on track. Whatever the case, the country remains, for now, stuck in what can only be described as a depression which is why we weren’t entirely surprised to hear that half of Athens’ real estate agents have been forced to close their doors as the property market in Greece is now almost completely dependent upon buyers who can afford to pay cash. Here’s Bloomberg with [6] "a day in the life of a Greek realtor."
