Greek Property Federation: Overtaxation Turning Away Investments

Overtaxation is turning away investors, buyers are preferring to spend money on real estate in tourist destinations, while all the more Greeks are unable to pay the property tax (known as ENFIA), according to a nation-wide survey released over the weekend by the Hellenic Property Federation (POMIDA) on the occasion of its 35th jubilee Panhellenic Conference. 

Conducted by Kapa Research, the poll found that Greek property owners are unable to pay real estate tax. Indicatively, 38.3 percent of respondents said they found it difficult to pay the ENFIA tax and 25.4 percent said they would be unable to cover the tax.

Meanwhile, of those polled, one in two expect investor interest in the real estate market to grow in the next two years, particularly in coastal areas or on the islands.

The president of the federation, Stratos Paradias, underlined that replacing ENFIA with a new tax dubbed FAP would be a blow to large but mainly medium-size property owners “exposing thousands of taxpayers to risk”, adding that with the current tax regime“ no one should expect to see investment activity on the real estate market”.

According to the survey, a high percentage of tenants are paying their rents late while the majority (76 percent) of property owners said they had reduced rents, some by as much as 40 percent, over the past three years in order to get tenants.

At the same time, the report found that 63.3 percent of real estate owners said leasing property was a loss, 30.2 percent said they intend to sell in the next two years, while 20.3 percent said they plan to buy property in the next two years.