Greece Golden Visa property: which minimum applies to your purchase

A Golden Visa property may not be let short-term, so it cannot earn the holiday-rental income many buyers count on. The programme is not closed; what changed is what you are buying and how you may use it.

The thresholds went up, but the programme is still open to property buyers; since 1 September 2024 it asks for a bigger, single property, and it bars the holiday letting that used to make such purchases pay for themselves. If a seller or agent is showing you a rental-yield projection built on short-term lets, pause before paying a deposit: that income is not allowed on a property bought for the visa.

The figure above is the minimum purchase in the high-demand areas: the whole of Attica, the Thessaloniki regional unit, Mykonos, Santorini, and islands of more than 3,100 people. It is the price of a property you own, not a fee paid to the government.

Which minimum applies to you

Greece now uses three levels for real estate:

• The high-demand areas above: the headline minimum.
• Everywhere else in Greece: a lower minimum.
• Converting a building from commercial to residential use, or restoring a listed building: the lowest minimum, in any area.

On every route the investment must go into a single property; several smaller properties do not add up. For the first two levels a built property must be at least 120 square metres. The size floor does not apply to the conversion and restoration route.

Owning it, and keeping the permit

The permit lasts five years and can be renewed for five years at a time for as long as you still own the property. For purchases under the current rules, the ministry's circular bars letting or subletting the property short-term, meaning a let of under 60 days, whether or not it is advertised on a platform. Long-term lets are not covered by that ban.

What to ask before you buy

A purchase has two sets of costs around it: what the state takes, and what the people helping you buy charge.

Costs that go to the government:

• The residence permit fee for the main applicant, and a small fee for printing the residence card. Together these make up the government fee shown above.
• The taxes and duties on the purchase itself, which depend on the property.

Costs that are the firm's own:

• The estate agent's commission, and the lawyer's and notary's fees for the purchase and the application, each on its own line.

Before you sign or pay a deposit, get answers to these:

1. Does the seller or agent expect income from holiday lets? That use is barred, so ask for the income projection in writing and for the long-let basis behind it.
2. Is the property inside one of the high-demand areas, and is that confirmed in writing?
3. Is it a single property of at least 120 square metres, or does it rely on the conversion or restoration route?
4. Is the price you are paying the price in the contract, which is what the minimum is measured against?
5. Which costs are taxes, which are the lawyer's and the notary's, and which are the agent's commission?

If you already hold a purchase contract or a seller's offer, answer yes to the first question in the box below and it will go through that document line by line; if you are still looking, enter the price of the property you are considering. The check compares a document or a figure with the published rules, and does not look at your application or advise on it; for advice on your own case, speak to a qualified immigration lawyer.

General information, not legal advice.