A repeat of last year’s scenario is expected to be caused by the statements made today by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, during his appearance on “Prime Minister’s Hour” from the floor of the parliament, when he confirmed that there are ongoing discussions about the limit increase investments of foreign citizens under the program “Golden Visa“, even in 800,000 euros.
Specifically, according to market sources, the scenarios for an imminent change in the regime are expected to cause a domino of developments, with an “explosion” of increases in property prices offered for sale and changes in the mix of options offered according to their size and region.
Something similar was observed in the real estate market in 2022 as well, with the announcement of the increase in the minimum investment amount required to purchase a property from 250.000 euro, in 500,000 euros, for the North, Central and South Athens Regional Units of the Attica Region, Mykonos, Santorini and the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
Today, people in the field estimate that the – potentially – new price increases are not excluded to “divide” interested buyers, domestic and foreign, depending on the areas of application of the new measure, while it remains to be seen how the measure will work in case of a universal application.
It is worth noting that the sales of apartments with a minimum value of 250,000 euros in Piraeus with the sole purpose of obtaining a golden visa have increased by 25%, in the period 2022 – 2023, registering a vertical increase. While the interest of known investors for the “more expensive” southern suburbs of Attica decreased by 11.6%. Although at the beginning of the program, the coastal areas of the region were at the top of preferences.
Judging by the Prime Minister’s statements today, the basic scenario foresees an increase in the investment limit for all those areas that are under pressure in the price of increase in rentsin an effort to increase the available stock of real estate for purchase by interested Greeks, both in urban centers and on islands.
As the prime minister pointed out earlier “the Golden Visa is for larger scale investments which do not compete with the average apartment that someone rents” and emphasized that the Golden Visa is not the reason why real estate prices increased, stressing that “only 7% of the purchases were for Golden Visa”.
Finally, the script remains to be preserved the lower limit of 250,000 euros in the areas where there is no residential pressure, as is done in Portugal, so that new demand is actually created and investments increase in areas that do not have a strong mark on the “map” of the real estate market.
Revenue of 2.6 billion euros in three years for the public
Height income 2.6 billion euros brought the last three years to Greece the real estate market with the Golden Visa program, as broadcast by ERT.
Specifically, approximately 15,000 applications have been approved and approximately 31,000 foreign investors and their family members received residence permits and acquired the right to move freely, without restrictions.
In a total of 14,875 requests in the last three years (2021-2023), 8,404 requests to buy real estate with a Golden Visa, or 56%, have been made by Chinese.
The second place is occupied by the Turks with 1,432 applications or about 10% and the third by the Lebanese with 775 applications.