Investors flocked to Greece to purchase property in the past year in an attempt to attain the golden visa before regulatory changes came into effect. Figures from the Hellenic Property and Investment Authority show that 9,289 people applied for residency in 2024, an increase from 8,477 in 2023. They estimated that €4.44 billion was spent on property transactions by golden visa applicants during this period.
Greece’s golden visa scheme, officially known as the Greece Investment Visa, was first introduced in 2014 to boost the Greek economy. It enabled non-EU nationals to gain residency in Greece by investing in property. After investing in Greek property and attaining the visa, nationals could become Greek citizens via naturalization after 7 years of continuous residency.
The regulatory changes that investors were trying to avoid by investing early saw the minimum qualifying real estate investment rise drastically from €250,000. Today, the minimum qualifying real estate investment is:
€800,000 for high-demand areas, including Santorini, Mykonos, Thessaloniki, and South Athens Attica.
€400,000 for low-demand areas.
These changes were introduced in an attempt to ease the housing crisis in Greece and encourage foreign investors to consider other economic contributions instead of real estate.
However, despite these changes to make the Greek golden visa more expensive for foreign investors as a route to residency, it may continue to flourish. As both Portugal and Spain have abolished real estate golden visas for foreigners, more investors may turn to Greece as a route to residency in the EU during 2025.