Record inflows for property

The major growth of foreign investments in the Greek housing market continued in the year’s first quarter.

According to the data contained in the Bank of Greece’s monetary policy report published on Friday, during the first three months of 2023 about 497 million euros flowed into the country, up 33% from the same quarter last year; at that time €374 million euros had been invested.

In total last year, foreign investments in Greece’s real estate market reached €2 billion, an increase of 68%, which was also a historic high. However, it is very likely that even this amount will be exceeded, as there has been an increase in investments by citizens of third countries who wish to meet the deadline given for the acquisition of real estate with a minimum investment limit of €250,000 per person.

As of August 1 this limit will be doubled to €500,000 in the center of Athens and the city’s northern and southern suburbs, as well as on Mykonos, Santorini and in Thessaloniki. This increase and the time window that was given triggered a wave of purchases in the above areas, which will also be reflected in the data of the year’s second quarter.

Already, based on the picture obtained from the Migration Policy Ministry, during the first four months of the year 3,064 requests were submitted for the granting of permanent investor residence permits. This is a figure that is 155% more than the corresponding first quarter of last year, when 1,200 requests were submitted. Based on the applications of the first four months, it appears that purchases and sales of at least €766 million have been implemented, when the corresponding amount in 2022 had come to €1.09 billion in total (based on the applications submitted).

The central bank said the Greek real estate market continued to record high rates of price growth during the first months of 2023 (14.5% in the first quarter nationwide and 11.7% overall in 2022), as a result of strong demand and the limited supply of modern real estate.