Greek PM: Golden Visa Limit to Increase for Large Cities and Islands

Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaking at the Greek Parliament

Addressing parliament, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis confirmed that the threshold for the country’s golden visa, which grants five-year residency rights for third country nationals who purchase real estate, would increase for properties in large cities and on certain islands.

Mitsotakis confirmed the news in response to a question posed in parliament by the Pasok-KINAL party about the country’s housing problem, which he said was not the result of the program.

Of the total real estate purchases over the last two years, the PM said 7 percent concerned the golden visa program. On the contrary, he added, the scheme was bringing in cash, adding that the government had however proceeded with amendments to the relevant law to protect housing.

In this direction, he said that the golden visa limit could further increase to “800,000 euros for large urban centers and islands… We are discussing a further increase in the golden visa investment threshold that will cover areas where there is pressure on rents, in urban centers, and on the islands”.

He went on to add that the current limit of 500,000 euros for some areas and 250,000 for others would remain in cases that have no housing problem.

Photo source: European Parliament / © AdS/hamzeh

The Greek government doubled the minimum visa investment limit to 500,000 euros from 250,000 euros last summer and allowed the purchase of only one property for the set amount. The new limit applied to property purchases in the central, northern and southern sectors of Attica, on Mykonos, Santorini and in Thessaloniki.

Additionally, Mitsotakis said the government would also be examining a regulation that would set out terms of lease for properties acquired through the investor visa program.

Indicatively, the country’s residence by investor scheme generated a title of 2.6 billion euros in revenues in the last three years with 56 percent of 15,000 applications approved concerning buyers from China.

Mitsotakis also said that a working group would be set up to investigate short-term tourist rental (Airbnb-style) activity and its impact on long-term housing. He admitted that “entire neighborhoods were at risk”.