Property transfer tax takings rise
Property transfer tax revenues posted a significant increase in the first seven months of the year, a report by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue shows, as the state raised 40.8 percent more in such revenues in January-July 2018 than a year earlier.
Data processing showed that the taxes paid for transfers in the year to end-July amounted to 204.63 million euros, against 145.30 million euros in 2017. The figure for July alone was 24.59 million, up 50.5 percent from the 16.33 million collected in July 2017.
IAPR officials say the rise in revenues from the transfer tax “is probably due to the expected shift in objective values [the taxable rates of properties] that may have led many candidate buyers to speed up the completion of their purchases before the application of the new zone prices.”
As of January 1, 2019 the new objective values will start applying to transfers, donations, parental concessions etc.
However, the market has a different explanation, attributing the increase in transactions to the surge in property purchases by Chinese, Turks, Russians, Israelis and Greeks in major cities to make the most of the rise in short-term rentals, as advertised on platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway.
