Greece: the real estate Golden Visa is pushing up Athens prices

Greece grants a residence permit to foreigners who acquire real estate above a value threshold. This permit allows residence and movement within the Schengen area; it confers neither tax residency nor any obligation to be present.

Law 5100 of 2024 replaced a single threshold with a geographical system. The investment required is now €800,000¹ in Attica, in the Thessaloniki metropolitan area and on islands with a population of more than more than 3,100² inhabitants.

Elsewhere in the country, the threshold is set at from €400,000³. Before the reform, the thresholds stood at from €500,000⁴ in high-demand areas and from €250,000⁵ in the rest of the country.

As Athens is part of Attica, the highest threshold applies there. The amount required in the capital has therefore more than tripled compared with the original regime.

The legislator's intention is explicit: to curb the pressure of foreign demand on housing in the tightest markets, Athens first among them. The increase is not a revenue-raising measure but a housing measure.

The observable effect is a shift rather than a halt. An investor who was aiming for a modest entry threshold turns to the regions and to the less populated islands, where the threshold remains lower, rather than tripling their commitment in the capital.

In Athens itself, the effect is ambiguous. The increase rules out entry-level purchases in central neighbourhoods — those that fed short-term rentals — but concentrates the remaining demand on a more expensive segment, which supports prices at the top end.

We do not publish an index of Athens property prices or the number of permits issued by zone: we have not found an up-to-date official Greek data series that would make it possible to measure the effect of the increase. Claims about the size of the rise are, as things stand, commentary rather than data.

What is certain, however, is that the rise in Athens prices preceded the reform by several years. It stems from the recovery after the crisis, tourism and short-term rentals as much as from residency by investment, and attributing it to that single cause is an oversimplification.

1. Determine the exact zone of the property: Attica, the Thessaloniki metropolitan area, a populous island or the rest of the country, since the threshold depends entirely on it.
2. Do not confuse the residence permit with tax residency: the latter requires a presence of more than more than 183 days⁶.
3. Check that the property complies with planning rules and has clear title, as construction disputes are not uncommon.
4. Cost the taxation of Greek rental income, which is taxed at the ordinary rates and not under any lump-sum regime.
5. Keep the property: selling it has consequences for keeping the permit.

The second point is the one most often overlooked. A Greek residence permit has no tax effect in itself, and a French national who obtains it without leaving France remains taxable in France on all of their income.

The stability of the scheme is the open question. The thresholds have changed twice in a few years, always upwards, and the European Commission keeps up constant pressure on member states' residency by investment schemes.

An investor should therefore reason on the basis of what is secured — the permit issued under the rules in force at the time of application — rather than on a trajectory assumed to be stable. Renewal conditions are governed by the law applicable at the time of renewal.

Finally, for a French national, the scheme is of limited interest: freedom of movement already allows them to live in Greece without any investment requirement. The permit is intended for third-country nationals, and it is for them that these thresholds are designed.

That leaves the investment itself, which is then judged like any foreign property investment: yield, liquidity, local taxation and no currency risk, since this is the euro area. In this case, the residence permit is merely an accessory.