Greece’s government plans to raise the property transfer tax — the tax paid on every real-estate purchase — from 3% to 15% for buyers who are citizens of countries outside the European Union, a fivefold increase. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the plan on September 5 at the Thessaloniki Economic Forum, naming Israeli, Chinese and Turkish buyers among those he said have helped push up apartment prices and made it harder for Greeks to buy homes of their own, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The change would apply to individual (natural-person) buyers of residential property who hold non-EU citizenship — not to EU citizens. The Jerusalem Post notes the line is drawn on citizenship, not nationality background alone: an Israeli buyer who also holds an EU passport would keep paying 3%, while an Israeli buyer without one would pay 15% on the same apartment. The Jerusalem Post gives worked examples at current prices: on a €150,000 apartment, the tax would rise from €4,500 to €22,500; on a €300,000 apartment, from €9,000 to €45,000; on an €800,000 property, from €24,000 to €120,000 — figures that exclude municipal surcharges and other purchase costs.
Greece’s eKathimerini separately reports that as the Finance Ministry works out the measure’s wording, it has added exemptions in response to industry pushback: purchases made through a company, rather than directly by an individual, would not be affected, and neither would Greek expatriates or foreign residents already spending at least six months a year in the country. Industry figures quoted by The Jerusalem Post separately expect areas outside major city centers, where there is no significant housing shortage, may also end up exempted — a second, distinct possibility still under discussion rather than decided.
On the government’s rationale, eKathimerini reports officials point to a rise in property purchases by Turkish nationals in the Thrace border region; market sources cited by the same outlet say such purchases are typically structured through companies, often registered in EU-member Bulgaria specifically to sidestep the extra security vetting non-EU individual buyers face for real estate near the border — meaning a tax aimed at individuals may not reach the purchases it was designed to address.
Real-estate agents who market Greek property to overseas buyers say the increase will hit demand from exactly the buyers it targets. Elxis — At Home in Greece, which markets Greek holiday homes exclusively to buyers from abroad, told eKathimerini that non-EU citizens made 20% of its sales in the 2024–2026 period and 44% of current buyer interest, led by the UK, the US and Australia. “People from third countries generally have a larger budget and often choose more expensive and better-quality homes,” said Elxis CEO George Gavriilidis.
The measure has not been passed into law, and The Jerusalem Post quotes Israeli real-estate attorney Ilan Leibovitz confirming the planned start date has already shifted once: “Initially, they spoke of an implementation target at the beginning of the year, but postponed it to the beginning of July” — July 1, 2027. The change follows other curbs Greece has already put in place on foreign property demand, including raising the minimum Golden Visa investment to €800,000 in Athens and other high-demand areas and restricting new short-term-rental registrations in parts of Athens and Thessaloniki.
References
The Jerusalem Post – Greece plans to quintuple purchase tax for foreign real estate buyers / eKathimerini.com – Property transfer tax backlash / eKathimerini.com – Transfer tax gets pushback
