At the market real estate at least 40% of the foreign direct investments that have been made in Greece have been directed this year. This is a very significant increase compared to the recent past, when the share of real estate did not exceed 20%-25% of all foreign investments. This development is due to two main reasons. The first lies in the very significant increase in real estate investment by foreigners, mainly due to the changes that came into effect at the beginning of August in the program “golden visa”. The second reason is the significant drop in foreign direct investment this year.
In particular, according to her data Bank of Greeceduring this year’s nine months the total number of direct foreigners investments amounted to 3.85 billion euros, a size that was 39.2% lower than the 6.34 billion euros that had flowed into the Greek economy during the same period in 2022. In the same period, only from the “golden visa” program it is estimated that 1.55 billion euros flowed into the country. This number is obtained based on the submission of 6,199 requests for the granting of an initial permanent investor permit to the competent services of the Department of Immigration Policy. It is recalled that the submission of such a request presupposes the realization of a minimum investment of 250,000 euros for the acquisition of a property.
During the corresponding period last year (9 months), only 1,834 requests for the granting of “golden visas” were submitted, which translates into inflows of 458 million euros.
Of course, the investments of foreigners in the real estate market do not only concern the securing of a residence permit, but also other movements, such as e.g. acquisition country house, while the realization of purchases by investors from EU countries is also important this year. Thus, it is estimated that in reality the total share of real estate investment, as a percentage of this year’s total foreign direct investment, is well above 40%, perhaps even over 50%.
From the “golden visa” program alone, the total amount of foreign investments in the 10 months amounts to 1.72 billion euros.
For example, at the level of 10 months, with the addition of October, the total amount of investments from the “golden visa” program alone amounts to 1.72 billion euros, as the number of applications for the issuance of a residence permit amounts to 6,890, surpassing any previous performance. It is characteristic that in the whole of 2022, 4,363 applications were submitted, corresponding to 1.09 billion euros, or about 50% of all foreign investments in the real estate market during the previous year.
It is recalled that, based on the data of the Central Bank, the inflows of foreign capital for the real estate market in Greece last year amounted to 2 billion euros, increased by 68% compared to 2021. During the first half of this year, an additional 1.1 billion euros have already flowed in based on the data of the BoE, an amount that is 40% higher than the corresponding one in 2022, when foreign investments were formed at 788 million euros.
An important role in this year’s increase was played by the deadline that the investors of the “golden visa” program had in order to secure a residence permit with the status of 250,000 euros. From the beginning of August minimum investment in the most popular areas for foreigners doubled to 500,000 euros. The change concerns the center of Athens, the southern and northern suburbs, the Municipality of Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini. Thus, from the beginning of 2023 until August 1st, there was an investment “frenzy” by those interested, so that they could secure a property in the areas of high demand without having to spend at least 500,000 euros.
At the same time, this year saw high demand from buyers from EU countries. for the acquisition of a holiday home both on the popular islands and on the Athenian Riviera. Thus, industry actors estimate that 2023 will mark a new historic high in terms of foreign investments in the real estate market, which may even approach 3 billion euros.
