Increase In Greece Real Estate For Golden Visa Purposes

In the 2023-24 period, investments through Greece’s Golden Visa Program's real estate option made up 10.77 percent of all real estate transactions.

This rise in transactions highlights the growing demand for residence permits in Greece, especially in the last two years when requests reached a record high.

A Kathimerini report, comparing tax authority statistics on the total value of real estate purchases and sales in 2023 and 2024 with Migration Ministry data on residence permit applications, reveals that one in ten property transactions involved an investor through the Golden Visa Program.

In 2023, there were 8,477 residence permit applications, which rose to 9,289 in 2024. These requests represent a minimum investment of €4.44 billion, though the actual amount is likely higher since some investors spent more than €250,000 each.

During 2023 to 2024, real estate transactions totaled €41.2 billion, with €18 billion in 2023 and €23.2 billion in 2024, according to the Hellenic Property and Investment Authority.

Greece’s Golden Visa Program grants residency to non-EU nationals in exchange for financial investments, with the real estate option being the most popular. However, to address the housing crisis, Greece decided last year to raise the minimum investment amount required for Golden Visa investments in some of the most popular areas of the country to €800,000.

The increase over the past two years was driven by investors eager to take advantage of the program before the new changes were implemented.

Last year, Hellenic Republic authorities announced that new changes to the program would be applied starting this year.

These include attracting investors through more productive ventures instead of real estate options. Additionally, Greek authorities outlined further details on the startup option in the Draft Budgetary Plan for 2025.

A recent report by the Global Investment Immigration Firm, Astons, predicts that Greece’s Golden Visa program will continue to grow, driven by factors such as the abolition of Spain’s golden visa program and rising demand from US investors.

The removal of Portugal’s real estate investment option from this scheme also led to an increase in Greece’s Golden Visa Program's real estate investments.