Lion’s share of foreign investment in realty

Real estate was a huge draw, again, for foreign investors in 2023, accounting for almost 1 out of every 2 euros that flowed into Greece.

The Bank of Greece reported that in 2023, capital inflows from abroad reached a record high of 2.133 billion euros for the second consecutive year, compared to 1.975 billion euros in 2022, but also 1.17 billion euros in 2021.

The third best performing year was 2019, with 1.45 billion euros. 

The data show that the real estate market had a decisive contribution, amounting to 47% of the total of 4.48 billion euros invested in the Greek economy last year.

However, a drop was recorded during the fourth quarter of 2023. During this period, funds of 489.5 million euros flowed into the real estate market, a figure that was the lowest quarterly performance of the last four quarters. 

Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2022, a 30% decrease in inflows was recorded.

It should also be noted that the last three months of 2022 constitute to date a historically high quarter with total inflows of 698.5 million euros.

Nonetheless, the almost 500 million euros of the fourth quarter of 2023 is certainly not an insignificant amount, given that for a considerable period real estate sales were frozen due to the abstention of notaries.

In fact, real estate market executives estimate that this will be reflected in this year’s first-quarter figures, as a significant percentage of transactions that were scheduled to take place by the end of 2023 were finally completed in the first months of 2024.

The largest percentage of foreign capital invested in the real estate market in 2023 is attributed to third-country investors, through the Golden Visa program. 

The changes announced at the beginning of 2023 caused a frenzy of transactions, as those interested wanted to secure properties with the 250,000-euro threshold, before it was doubled to 500,000 euros in the center of Athens and its northern and southern suburbs. 

Something similar is projected to occur again this year, due to new changes being pushed for the Golden Visa program, which many believe is coming to an end, at least in its recent form.

The amendment submitted to Parliament envisages another increase in the lower investment limit to 800,000 euros for the whole of Attica and Thessaloniki, as well as for all islands with more than 3,100 inhabitants, covering all popular tourist destinations. Accordingly, in the rest of the country the minimum limit will increase from the current 250,000 euros to 400,000 euros.