Greek university students heading back to campus this autumn say they're struggling to find accommodation and feel squeezed out of the rental market due to high prices. 

Inflation, low availability of accommodation, and an increase in short-term renting has created a perfect storm.

"We've been searching for months," university student Andreas Sfikas told CGTN Europe. "It was very difficult, the rents are just too high and the apartments too small and there's barely any availability, but I got lucky and I found one, around 500 euros." 

While Andreas may count himself fortunate to find a roof over his head, it still comes at a price the student's family say they cannot afford.

Many young Greeks are about to leave their hometowns to start student life. For the majority, finding and paying for accommodation is a big concern.

It's common for students to seek off-campus housing as the waiting list for university dorms can be longer than three years. 

The current shortages are not just experienced in major cities such as Athens or Thessaloniki, but in smaller ones as well.

The country's housing market has seen a sharp rises in the past few years, especially as Greece emerged from a decade-long financial crisis.

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In the past five years alone, prices nationwide have risen by more than 45 percent. The increase in the past year is around 15 percent, well above inflation.

For a number of years, tourism seasons have overlapped with academic school years, with many landlords preferring to rent to visitors than students.

Real estate consultants say the problems facing students are likely to worsen.

"The availability of housing for students decreases every year," said Giannis Xylas, head of leading property valuers Geoaxis. "One of the reasons is that there no new construction of on-campus housing or apartments targeting students and another reason is many of the existing apartments for students are now only available on websites for short-term renting. And we will see this increasing in the coming years," 

To tackle the increase in prices the government of Kyriakos Mitotakis has announced new housing developments and an increase in the student housing allowance from 1,000 to 1,500 USD per academic term.

Meanwhile the country continues to deal with the cost of living crisis. Having secured an apartment, Andreas Sfikas might be one the lucky students, but with winter still ahead, heating his apartment is another concern altogether.