A third of property sales due to ‘Golden Visas’
One-third of real estate transactions in Greece in recent years are due to purchases made for the acquisition of a “Golden Visa.”
In fact, many properties were purchased at double or even triple the price in order to meet the minimum investment threshold of 250,000 euros, the Eteron Institute found in a study on the impact of the visa scheme on the housing problem.
It noted that the new threshold of €500,000 will not necessarily alleviate the impact on the housing market.
The report said that in the five years of the program (2014-2019) Greece approved 20% of such visas in the European Union (7,563) – bringing in 10% of the total revenue (€1.89 billion). The reason is that until recently Greece provided one of the cheapest Golden Visas in the EU.
The overwhelming majority of these investors are from China, followed Turkey (6%), Russia (5%), Lebanon (4%) and Egypt (3%).
