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Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the measure during his address at the Thessaloniki International Fair, describing it as part of efforts to address large-scale purchases of Greek real estate by third-country buyers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Under the current system, buyers<\/strong> pay a property transfer tax of 3% based on the taxable transfer value. The tax is generally calculated on whichever is higher: the agreed purchase price or the property\u2019s objective tax value.<\/p>\n The proposed increase would represent a fivefold rise in the tax burden for third-country buyers<\/strong> covered by the new rules.<\/p>\n For a property with a taxable value of \u20ac100,000, the transfer tax would increase from \u20ac3,000 to \u20ac15,000, adding \u20ac12,000 to the cost for the third-country buyer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For a \u20ac200,000 property, the tax would rise from \u20ac6,000 to \u20ac30,000, while a \u20ac250,000 purchase would see the tax increase from \u20ac7,500 to \u20ac37,500.<\/p>\n The difference becomes considerably larger for higher-value properties.<\/p>\n A property valued at \u20ac500,000 would carry a transfer tax of \u20ac75,000 under the proposed 15% rate, compared with \u20ac15,000 today.<\/p>\n For an \u20ac800,000 property, the tax would rise from \u20ac24,000 to \u20ac120,000.<\/p>\n On a \u20ac1 million purchase, the transfer tax would increase from \u20ac30,000 to \u20ac150,000, representing an additional \u20ac120,000 in tax for the third-country buyer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n These figures do not include other expenses associated with a property transaction, such as notary fees, Land Registry or cadastral registration costs, potential legal fees and real estate agency commissions.<\/p>\n The government expects the higher tax to discourage large-scale purchases of Greek property by third-country buyers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The measure could particularly affect third-country buyers<\/strong> from countries such as Turkey, China, Israel and other non-EU states, although the precise scope will depend on the legislation implementing the announcement.<\/p>\n One important issue that still needs clarification concerns third-country buyers who hold dual citizenship<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For example, an Israeli buyer may also hold French, German, Italian or another EU passport. It remains unclear whether such a dual-national buyer<\/strong> would be treated as an EU buyer and therefore excluded from the 15% rate.<\/p>\n The implementing legislation will also need to establish which documents third-country buyers<\/strong> must provide and at what stage their citizenship status will be assessed.<\/p>\n The treatment of dual-national buyers<\/strong> could ultimately have a significant impact on how broadly the new tax applies.<\/p>\n The government is expected to provide further details as the legislation introducing the new system is finalized.<\/p>\nSignificant increase in the cost of buying property<\/h3>\n
Measure targets third-country buyers<\/h3>\n