Objective home prices set to soar
Property owners are faced with the prospect of new taxes for 2012, as the government is determined to bring objective prices (used for tax purposes) up to market levels.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told a TV station on Tuesday that ?our target is not to increase the burden [on the property owner], but to bring objective rates closer to market prices.? He said this would be achieved by reducing tax rates per square meter.
However the failure to meet the fiscal targets for 2011 and the government?s commitment to new measures for next year is showing that real estate taxes will go up. The rates may go down, but the leveling of objective and market prices will definitely bring an additional burden to more than 5 million property owners in Greece.
The special property tax paid through electricity bills will be higher in 2012 than this year, while taxes for donations, parental concessions and heritage are rising. There will also be a 23 percent value-added tax imposed on the sale of newly built homes.
