Greece is set to raise its property transfer tax on residential purchases by non-EU buyers from 3% to 15%, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced at the Thessaloniki International Fair on September 6, according to The Greek Herald and Neos Kosmos. The change is now confirmed to take effect on July 1, 2027, after the government pushed the originally reported January 2027 start date back six months to avoid unsettling the market. It would apply only to residential property bought by natural persons — not companies, and not commercial or land purchases.
The plan carves out a wide exemption: Greek citizens, including members of the Greek diaspora (ομογενείς), along with EU/EEA citizens and qualifying long-term residents, would continue to pay the current 3% rate (3.09% including the municipal levy). Everyone else buying residential property would face an effective transfer-tax burden of 15.45%. Neos Kosmos illustrated the gap with a worked example: on a €400,000 property, a non-exempt buyer would owe €60,000 in transfer tax versus €12,000 for an exempt buyer — meaning Greek citizenship alone could be worth roughly €48,000 in tax savings on that purchase.
For members of the Greek diaspora and other prospective non-EU buyers, the announcement is both a warning and, for those eligible, a path around it: qualifying for Greek citizenship or long-term resident status before the tax takes effect would preserve the lower rate. The legislation has not yet been passed, and both outlets note some details remain open — including the exact documentation required to prove ομογενής (diaspora) status, and how the rule will interact with Golden Visa investors and commercial-to-residential conversions.
Neither outlet quoted in this reporting has offered a forecast for how the change might affect non-EU buyer demand ahead of the July 2027 effective date; any assessment of that impact will need to wait for the finalized legislation.
References
The Greek Herald – Greece’s proposed 15% property transfer tax: What it means for the diaspora / Neos Kosmos – Greece’s new 15 per cent home-buyer tax has an escape hatch — Greek citizenship
