Residential Properties

Among the EU countries, Athens in Greece features as one of the cheaper capitals to buy a residential apartment, slightly above the former Eastern Bloc countries of Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania.  This is the reason for Greece being one of the more popular countries to obtain the so called Golden Visa.

The “Golden Visa” is an arrangement whereby non-EU citizens receive a 5-year residence visa to live and work in a EU country within the Schengen area. Within this region, they can move freely.  To qualify for this visa in Greece, applicants must buy real estate – residential or commercial – of a current minimum value of 250,000 Euros.  This is the lowest investment level for a Golden Visa in the Schengen area.  The 5-year residence visa is renewable ad infinitum so long as the holder owns the property.

Holders of a valid residence visa may seek employment in Greece ad can apply for Greek citizenship after they have lived in the country permanently for longer than 7 years.  Immediate family members (spouse, children, parents  and parents in law) of the investor also qualify for a residence visa.

Commercial Properties

Despite a slowdown in European markets and a decrease in trading volume in most of them, investments in commercial real estate in the Greece reached a record 1.65 billion euros in 2022[1], marking a 40% increase compared to 2021. The hotel market gathered the largest volume of transactions worth €620 million, with the office market following with €410 million Core+ office space investments garnered the highest transaction volume at 51%. The shops and shopping centers sector comes a close third, attracting €327m, recording a 200% year-on-year increase over 2021. The logistics & industrial real estate sector attracted investments of approximately €100 million, while approximately the same amount was invested in land purchases for the purpose of development. Domestic investment in the commercial real estate market in 2022 continues to be significant with almost €400 million in the hospitality sectors, in privileged offices and in the acquisition of land for development.  The inflow of foreign capital amounted to €380 million at levels lower than expected due to the adverse global economic circumstances. The trends for 2023:
  • The Greek commercial real estate market will continue to attract strong interest from domestic individuals and institutional investors.
  • The retail market is recovering. After a long period of recession in store space, the interest of investors and development companies is returning. Central markets recorded an increase in sales and traffic with a shift towards leisure and experimental shopping.
  • Domestic and international investors will continue their interest in logistics real estate thanks to high demand and low supply of properties.
  • The intense competition between real estate investment companies leads investors to search for alternative categories of real estate with a higher return such as serviced apartments, schools, student residences, retirement housing, etc.
  • The significant increase in tourism buoyed the hotel market and the popularity of Greece as a tourist destination will continue to drive demand for real estate in this sector.
  • Inflated construction costs, skilled labor shortages and rising labour wages are potential challenges in 2023. Developers may need to explore avenues of cost reduction focussing on cost control, risk assessment and process improvement.

Prices of commercial properties loosely correlate with residential real estate in the sense that the latter reflect the relatively low investment levels of the former.

Source: Cushman & Wakefield Proprius 2022.