On September 6, 2026, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced plans to increase Greece’s property transfer tax from 3% to 15% for non-EU buyers. Two days later, Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis set out further details: the measure is expected to take effect from July 1, 2027, apply only to natural persons rather than companies, and include exemptions for ethnic Greeks and long-term residents.
The announcement was made at the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair and forms part of a broader €2.2 billion housing affordability package. The stated rationale is that foreign demand has made it harder for Greek citizens to access housing in key areas.
For investors currently evaluating the Greece Golden Visa — or already in the process — this development deserves careful attention.
What Has Been Announced — And What Remains Unknown
Two questions that were open immediately after the initial announcement have since been clarified: the measure will apply to natural persons only, meaning purchases made through Greek or EU-registered companies fall outside its scope, while long-term residents and ethnic Greeks are exempt.
What is not yet resolved is the treatment of the €250,000 conversion and restoration route. The implementing legislation, expected to go to public consultation within the coming weeks, will settle this and other structural details.
The July 2027 effective date is currently set to fall after Greece’s spring 2027 elections, though its final form will depend on the legislative process between now and then.
What This Means in Practice
As Emilia Ribeiro Ferreira, private client adviser for Greece at Global Citizen Solutions, puts it:
“The first thing I tell clients when news like this breaks is: don’t make a decision based on a headline. What’s been announced and what will actually be legislated are two different things — and how it applies to any specific investor depends entirely on their situation, their timeline, and the route they’re considering. Greece remains one of the strongest European residency programs available. What this announcement does is make the conversation about investment route selection more important, not less.”
What changes is the calculation, not the case for Greece. Investors considering the standard residential property route can factor in the full cost structure once the transfer tax rate is confirmed in the final legislation.
For those already in process, it’s worth understanding whether a specific transaction falls before or after the July 2027 threshold.
This is where specialist guidance is most useful. The gap between what has been announced and what will ultimately be legislated, and how the final rules apply to a specific transaction structure, is best worked through with proper advice rather than assumption.
The Investment Route Conversation
This development also gives investors who have not yet committed to a specific route an opportunity to reassess their options.
The Greece Golden Visa offers qualifying investment routes beyond standard residential real estate — including regulated investment funds and commercial conversion projects — each with a different cost structure, risk profile, and relationship to the kind of policy change announced this month.
For some investors, a property acquisition will still be the right answer. For others, this is a natural moment to weigh what the alternatives offer against their broader investment and residency strategy.