Second life for closed shops
Ground-floor stores being converted into residential properties for renting and Golden Visas
Thousands of empty and decaying ground-floor shops, mainly in the center of Athens and of Thessaloniki, now have the opportunity to be transformed. According to property market executives, the new Golden Visa provisions have already begun to mobilize investment interest in the acquisition of such properties, which can be converted into apartments.
As mentioned in the recent regulation on the change of investment limits, a residence permit can be secured through the Golden Visa program with the low threshold of 250,000 euros, instead of €800,000 that is now established.
The condition is that the property purchased comes from a change of use and has a minimum area of 120 square meters. That is, if a commercial store or a ground-floor warehouse or even an old office is converted into an apartment, then €250,000 is enough to grant a residence permit to the investor who buys it. The new owner will be prohibited from making it available through online short-term rental platforms, but will be allowed to make it available through long-term rental.
According to real estate sources, this has already increased the purchasing interest for ground-floor shops in various areas of Athens, mainly in the districts of the city center, where the number of such properties is much greater.
Areas such as Galatsi, Kypseli, Patissia, Kallithea, Pangrati, Ambelokipi and others currently have thousands of ground-floor shops or warehouses that can be used, as long as the surface criterion is certainly met – i.e. from 120 sq.m. and above. These properties can be converted into ground-floor apartments with the necessary refurbishment and then made available for rent. In some cases the conversions are being done by the owners themselves, but mostly these properties, which until a few years ago were unclaimed, are now being bought by investors, Greeks and foreigners, with the cost being far lower – around €500-700/sq.m. – than the purchase of an apartment precisely because of their characteristics (ground-floor properties) and because they require significant funds to convert.
