The Greek government is about to submit the new scheme for Golden Visa to the Parliament next week. The new 3-tier price scheme will depend on the geographical location of a property and will also have special incentives to investors from non-EU countries who will purchase “conservation” properties.
The final provision with the new limits for those who want to invest through the “Golden Visa” will be submitted to Parliament o next week.
According to daily imerisia.gr, the final plan reached by the financial staff aims to address the housing problem by limiting demand in some areas, addressing distortions in the real estate market by decompressing prices and limiting purchases of “Golden Visa” homes, before “bubbles” are created in cheap areas of Attica that will exacerbate the housing crisis.
Worth noting that the Greek government has been thinking to increase the investment prices in favorite locations for quite some time due to the housing crisis.
New price limits
800,000 euros
In the areas which are a “magnet” for foreign investors, such as the northern and southern sectors of Attica, especially the part of the so-called Athens Riviera, the center of Thessaloniki, the islands of Mykonos and Santorini, the Golden Visa cap will increase to 800,000 euros from 500,000 euros today.
Today the limit of 500,000 euros concerns areas of the Northern Sector, namely Penteli, Kifissia, Metamorfosi, Chalandri, Agia Paraskevi, Vrilissia, Nea Ionia, Heraklion, Cholargo, Papagou, Pefki, Lykovrysi and Marousi.
In the Southern Sector respectively, the municipalities of Agios Dimitrios, Alimos, Glyfada, Hellinikon-Argyroupoli, Kallithea, Moschato-Tavros, Nea Smyrni and Palaio Faliro and in the Central Sector the Municipalities of Athens, Philadelphia-Chalkidona, Galatsi, Zografou, Kaisariani, Byron, Ilioupoli , Dafnis Ymittou. The 500,000 euro limit also includes the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the islands of Mykonos and Santorini.
The increase in the investment limit is estimated to act as a deterrent to massive investments in the real estate market.
After all, as experience has shown, the increase of the minimum purchase limit to 500,000 euros in the center of Athens, the northern and southern suburbs and also the center of Thessaloniki directed those wishing to obtain a residence permit to destinations outside the two mega-cities in the country
400,000 euros
In the rest of the regions of Attica and Thessaloniki, the current limit of 250,000 euros will be increased to 400,000 euros. This is done in order to limit the shift of demand from areas of Attica with high investment limits to those with lower limits and distortions are constantly created in the market.
In Piraeus, for example, prices have skyrocketed recently with sales recording an explosive rise.
250,000 euros
In the remaining regions, the investment limit will remain at 250,000 euros.
Conservation properties
A special exception will apply for those who invest in “conservation properties” throughout the country where the limit for investment is set at 250,000 euros.
The exception for conservation properties for which a lower minimum investment threshold will apply is made so that foreign buyers are incentivized to invest in this property class, which needs capital to be developed. Many owners are unable to undertake the enormous cost of restoring a listed building, with the result that these buildings have largely fallen into a bad state.
High demand
Greece’s Golden Visa was the most sought-after in the world in 2023.
Based on data from the Ministry of Migration Policy, during the period January – December 2023 the demand hit ‘red’, after the requests -initial grant and renewal- reached 10,214, marking a record high in 5 years.
In the same period, 5,701 permanent investor permits (4,231 initial and 1,470 renewals) were issued based on the decision date for applications submitted from 2018 until December 2023.
It is estimated that investments of at least 1 billion euros were made in one year, given that 4,231 permanent investor licenses were issued, corresponding to the same number of real estate sales, with a minimum amount per transaction of 250,000 euros. In addition, 8,800 applications are pending.
