Greek owners of property in UK, Germany in tax collectors’ crosshairs
Tax collectors will be focusing on Greeks who purchased over 1.5 billion euros’ worth of real estate in the UK and Germany in 2010-2014 as authorities seek to raise revenues from properties abroad.
London appears to be have been the most popular choice for Greeks looking to invest their savings since the start of the crisis, with British real estate firm Savills estimating that they spent at least 300 million euros in London properties in 2012 alone. Germany is also a favorite, with experts there estimating that Greeks make up 5 percent of total foreign property investors, accounting for an average of 65 million euros a year.
Experts, however, say that the trend has lost momentum in the past few months. “The capital controls [introduced in the summer] have stemmed activity, except in the case of those who have deposits abroad or property in other countries that they can sell,” says Konstantin Vollbach of ImmoConsult, a Greek firm specializing in German real estate.
