“Golden visa” for 5 months brought 1 billion euros

During the first five months of this year, real estate sales totaling 975 million euros were registered by investors from third countries interested in obtaining a residence permit under the Golden Visa program.

This is almost three times more than in the same period last year, when 361 million euros were invested. The 170% increase is based on requests submitted to the Treasury, Immigration and Asylum Department to issue initial investor residency permits. In particular, the total number of applications is 3,900 compared to 1,444 in the first five months of last year.

Meanwhile, the peak of the investment “flow” to the Greek market began to generate delays in approvals from the competent authorities. There are currently 5,444 permits pending for permanent investors. If relatives of investors and renewals of previously issued permits are added, the total number of permits pending is 17,742. In the last 12 months (May 2022-May 2023) alone, 8,351 have been filed application for primary licenses and their renewal, of which only 35% have been issued.

This fact is confirmed by market participants. As noted Svetlana Kasatkina-Kuskuhead of an investment migration law firm of the same name, “delays have indeed increased. Until recently, permits were issued in 1-2 months. Now it takes at least three months, which is associated with a more than threefold increase in the volume of applications.”

The termination of the Portuguese Golden Visa program has caused many stakeholders to turn their attention to Greece.

It should be noted that the rate of issuance of permits has already increased: in the first five months of this year, 1938 permits (for new investors) were issued compared to 777 in the same period last year. The growth was 149%. In May this year alone, 412 licenses were issued compared to 220 last year. Of these, 317 are for new investors, while in 2022, 169 permits were issued in the same month. However, as the data shows, the rate of new applications is such that services cannot keep up with them, and new investors are being added by those who are renewing “first generation” licenses, which are expiring in five years.

The “explosion” of the real estate market this year under the “golden visa” program is associated with a change in conditions, namely the upcoming doubling of the minimum investment threshold to 500 thousand euros from 250 thousand euros today. This change applies to the center of Athens, the northern and southern suburbs, Mykonos, Santorini and the municipality of Thessaloniki, and should come into effect on August 1, i.e. a few weeks after today. Until that time, those investors who manage to conclude preliminary contracts for the purchase of real estate will receive a license with a low threshold of 250,000 euros. However, it should be noted that in recent days there have been rumors on the market about an additional deferment (the first term provided for a change in the threshold from 250,000 to 500,000 euros at the beginning of May).

In addition to the upcoming change in the terms of the program, which prompted many investors to accelerate their decision-making and investment in the real estate market, the fact that the increase in the threshold applies to precisely those areas that are in high demand from foreign buyers, in particular, the center of Athens and southern suburbs. In addition, the easing of travel restrictions for Chinese citizens has also revived demand from the larger market under the golden visa program.

Another reason lies in the termination of a similar program in Portugal. This program was one of the most successful in the European Union, as it provided the opportunity to obtain citizenship in the long term and subject to certain criteria by the investor. The recent termination of this program has led many interested parties to turn to Greece, especially since today you can get a permit for 250,000 euros, which is the lowest in Europe.

There is no doubt that foreign investment in the real estate market, especially under the Golden Visa program, is likely to reach a new historical high this year and exceed 2 billion euros in 2022, with an annual increase of 68%. According to the Bank of Greece, in the first quarter of this year, the inflow of foreign capital into the country on the real estate market amounted to 497 million euros. This is 33% more than in the same quarter last year, when 374 million euros were invested.

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