New objective values to be issued in June, with many ENFIA hikes

Greece’s 7 million property owners will find out next month what the new taxable rates in their area will be, ahead of receiving their Single Property Tax (ENFIA) pay notices in the last few days of August.

The recently formed committee tasked with processing the zone rates recommended by property surveyors has not yet completed its work, which has led to further delays in the announcement of the new so-called “objective values” (property rates used for tax purposes) – and possibly to the dismay of the country’s creditors who are to send their chief representatives to Athens next week.

Kathimerini understands that, following the adjustment, the losers will be the owners of properties with current zone rates ranging from 750 to 1,500 euros per square meter. In those areas ENFIA will rise between 3.5 and 21.6 percent, and in a handful of cases the increase will amount to 62 percent from last year.

In any case the new objective values will change the map of the property market – which will not benefit from the changes – as well as the taxation landscape, as the rate adjustments closer to market prices will generate a domino effect of changes in some 20 taxes and levies imposed on property.

Sources say that the Finance Ministry committee is comparing the recommendations of surveyors with data from the Bank of Greece and the Property Transfer Register to establish whether there are any major differences. As committee members admit, they “have given up” on some 1,500-2,000 zones and have forwarded the data to the ministry’s second-level committee for it to make the definitive decisions.

The same sources add that before the new objective values are published, there will be some virtual ENFIA calculations to ensure the amount demanded reaches the target of 3.2 billion euros – the amount property owners are asked to pay every year, with an average of 2.65 billion eventually being collected.

Data show that several areas in the center of Athens will have higher ENFIA dues this year. In districts such as Metaxourgeio, Mets, Koukaki, Petralona, Pangrati and Kerameikos, the zone rates will grow significantly, according to the recommendations submitted to the ministry. A smaller increase (from 3.5 percent) is expected in less fashionable areas, such as Drapetsona in Piraeus.