Greek Golden Visa to Have 3 Price Zones for Real Estate

Last week, IMI reported that Prime Minister Kyriakos, speaking in Parliament, revealed prices for the Greek golden visa’s real estate option would “soon” rise to as much as EUR 800,000 in certain areas. Today, according to multiple reports in Greek media, the new prices will come in three levels and “within days.”

According to multiple sources, the new minimum investment requirement will have the following three levels:

• Zone A: EUR 800,000
• Zone B: EUR 400-500,000
• Zone C: EUR 250,000

While it’s still not clear precisely which municipalities will fall into each category, the Prime Minister has already made it clear that the most popular areas will be the ones targeted by price hikes.

Various press reports today indicate Zone A will at least include central, southern, and northern parts of Attica, the capital region, as well as central Thessaloniki and the islands of Mykonos and Santorini. Some reports also said Crete, the Cyclades, and the Dodecanese islands may be classified as Zone A.

Zone B, say reports, will be reserved for areas where the EUR 250,000 minimum presently applies but which have seen significant price pressure since last year's price increase. This zone is likely to encompass Piraeus, Athens' western suburbs, as well as certain northern and eastern suburbs like Gerakas, Ekali, Markopoulo, and other upscale neighborhoods in the Attica region where the price is still EUR 250,000.

The news will disappoint golden visa developers who had pivoted to focus on neighborhoods near - but not within - Athens when minimums for the capital rose fewer than seven months ago.

Zone C will be kept for municipalities where foreign buying interest has remained sluggish, which is to say, the vast majority of the country's municipalities.

Market observers are now waiting to see which zone will apply to municipalities that have few golden visa investors but which nonetheless have considerable housing shortages, like Corfu, Iraklio, Hania, Rhodes, and Patra.

Ekathemirini reports that it expects to see the publication of the new rules "within the week."

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