Potential buyers of real estate from all over the world are showing great interest, as the low prices, the golden visa and the attractiveness of Greece as a place of residence, are important poles of attraction. The Greek real estate market is attracting strong international interest, as the valuations that remain low and the high returns at least in comparison with the corresponding European ones, as well as the climate change in the Greek economy are a "magnet" for investors.
Spitogatos presents the list of foreign countries from which most property market searches in Greece come.
The list even reveals the charm that Kavala now has to foreign real estate buyers, since especially Germans and Bulgarians seem to have our city and our Prefecture at the top of their preferences, eagerly looking for a property in our area.
Americans, Germans and British carry out the most searches for homes for sale in Greece. First on the list are the residents of America who are looking for homes mainly in Santorini, Glyfada and Mykonos.
Second are the Germans who "detect" the real estate market of Northern Greece and specifically the center of Thessaloniki, Kalamaria and Kavala, while the residents of the United Kingdom are more interested in Rhodes, Glyfada and Kolonaki.
The first ten are completed by:
the Dutch, with a preference for the areas of Metz-Kallimarmaro, Pagrati, New World
the Chinese for Tinos, Kifissia and Glyfada
the French with interest in Paros, Syros and the area of Kolonaki-Lycabettus
the Australians, with a preference for Glyfada, Kalamaki and Santorini
the Swedes for Rhodes, Kassandra, Halkidiki, Volos
the Bulgarians with interest in Kavala and Sithonia Halkidiki
the Canadians in Kalamata, Glyfada, Santorini
The CEO of Spitogatos, Dimitris Melachrinos, stated in this regard: "The Greek real estate market is going through a very positive period with increased demand. This is reflected in the upward trend in selling prices and is confirmed by the millions of data we collect daily. With particular interest we observe visitors of our websites from over 50 countries looking for homes for sale throughout Greece. Specifically, the traffic from abroad records an increase of more than 25% compared to 2018. These data can be useful material for potential sellers to target more accurately and effectively to potential buyers, but also local communities to highlight accordingly their local tourism product ".
What about visas and what the Chinese do
Interesting conclusions can be drawn from the course of the Golden Visa program. According to Enterprise Greece, the total number of residence permits for investors-buyers exceeds 5,300, reaching 5,302 permits in total. For the last quarter, from June 2019 until September, the number of licenses issued to Chinese buyers increased by 707 (2,757 the total number last June). Two out of three licenses issued from the beginning of the program until September 30 have been given to Chinese buyers.
Law 4146/2013 (Government Gazette A '90) provides a residence permit to third country citizens who purchase real estate in Greece, the value of which should be at least 250,000 euros.
It is a residence and free movement permit in the Schengen countries, which is essentially permanent and lasts for life, but the holder is obliged to renew it every five years. Thus, mainly Chinese, Russians, Turks, Egyptians and Lebanese buy real estate in Greece.
Residence permit can be obtained by all family members (spouse and children up to 21 years old), their parents and spouse's parents. Even after the age of 21, children can receive a three-year extension of their residence permit.
Prices and Europe
The Greek state offers one of the cheapest gold visa packages in Europe. Malta sets a limit between 275,000-320,000 euros depending on the area of purchase of the property, Latvia 250,000 euros plus 5% state fee for the purchase of real estate exclusively in Riga, Spain from 500,000 euros, Cyprus 300,000 euros for the purchase of newly built properties only, Portugal 350,000 euros for the purchase of real estate outside Lisbon or 500,000 euros for the purchase of real estate in Lisbon, Andorra 400,000 euros, Spain 500,000 euros and Ireland 2,000,000 euros. In fact, many Chinese who bought properties in Cyprus are now selling them to buy in Greece, as Cyprus does not currently belong to the Schengen area.
The Turks, according to official figures, have moved up to second place in both individual residence permits and those granted to their family members for the first time since the beginning.
