The platform for Greece’s expanded relocation grants opens on Wednesday, 14 October, while paperwork for the “Anakainizo” renovation scheme starts within ten days, Social Cohesion and Family Minister Domna Michailidou said on SKAI.
Citizens who settle permanently in designated border regions can receive €10,000, with half paid in advance. After Evros, the scheme covers Kilkis, Florina, Kastoria, Drama, Pella, Grevena, Kozani, Serres, Ioannina and Thesprotia. Applicants can live in Greece or abroad. They no longer have to prove they work in the place they move to. Owning or renting a home there is enough, and the move can be to a town, not only a village.
“We are linking our housing tools so that every citizen can use the one that meets their own needs: to move, to renovate their home, or to buy a first home,” Michailidou said.
For Anakainizo, about 94,000 certificates have already been issued: roughly 80,000 for owner-occupied homes and 14,000 for empty properties. Once the platform opens in October, applicants can file documents and declare costs to receive 50 per cent of the subsidy up front. The grant can cover up to 95 per cent of eligible spending and up to €36,000 a home, if the property gets a light energy upgrade.
She also outlined “Spiti mou III,” meant to help about 20,000 more people buy a first home.
It covers ages 25 to 55, homes worth up to €300,000, and loans of up to €230,000. For couples the income cap is €35,000, plus €7,000 for each child. Large families can buy a bigger home.
Under Spiti mou II, more than 14,100 people bought a property. The average beneficiary was 38.
On prices, Michailidou said homes bought through Spiti mou I and II have tracked the rest of the market. Studies so far, she said, do not show that the schemes pushed prices up faster.
