Real estate in Greece is in high demand among Russians

Despite the restrictions, Russians are very active in buying real estate in sunny Hellas. This is what the former vice-president of the Greek-Russian Chamber of Commerce Zoya Kipriyanova tells us. She explains:

“Of course, they are not buying as actively as they used to. But nevertheless, there are a sufficient number of interested buyers who are buying real estate not only to obtain a “golden visa”, which is difficult to obtain for holders of a Russian passport. They are also buying simply for housing, and not as an investment. There are also Russians who are looking at interesting investment properties.”

In the Greek capital, Thessaloniki and on some islands – Mykonos, Santorini – the cost of a “golden visa” in Greece has been increased to 500 thousand euros, in other areas it has remained at the level of 250 thousand euros. At present, this cost is also changing – to 800 thousand and 400 thousand euros. Realtor explains:

“In principle, the law has already come into force, but on the condition that an interested buyer makes a 10% advance payment by the end of September and pays for the property by the end of the year, he will still be able to take advantage of the “old” law, where the “golden visa” costs 500 and 250 thousand.”

Kipriyanova says:

“Real estate is now mainly bought by holders of dual citizenship. That is, in addition to Russian, they have a passport of a former socialist republic – Armenia, Kyrgyzstan. These are those who want to get a “golden visa”, and since they cannot get it with a Russian passport, they get it with a second citizenship. This is what concerns relatively cheap real estate – from 250 thousand to 500 thousand.”

According to her, as a rule, such buyers have either a second or third home in Russia, and they sell it or their dacha in order to obtain a residence permit and buy something in Greece:

“In my experience, it is 40-50%. The rest are those who for some reason are not interested in a residence permit, these are our Russian compatriots who have been living in Germany or Europe for a long time, there are those from America, and who simply want to buy real estate. There is a wide range here – from very cheap housing costing 150-200 thousand, they just want to buy a studio and come on vacation. The rest of the time they can rent it out on Airbnb. This is one part of the buyers, and the second part is those who are looking for an investment property, and here the budget is much higher – from 500 thousand euros to several million.”

They are ready to buy a house to be demolished, says Kipriyanova, in order to renovate it and make it into an apartment building, a tourist complex or a hotel:

“Attica and Peloponnese are in demand. The main requests are at a distance of 2-2.5 hours from Athens. There are many requests for Crete.”

Zoya Kipriyanova also noted the interest of “Israeli compatriots” in housing in Crete:

“For the last month and a half, there have been constant requests for Crete from our Israeli compatriots. Moreover, the requests are for fairly inexpensive real estate – for 150-200 thousand, and the requirements are very high – villas, with a pool, by the sea, so we cannot offer anything for this budget. Every day I have two or three requests of this order.”

She claims that Russians from Dubai are investing heavily and actively in expensive real estate: “They see the situation as favorable for acquiring investment property here for the purpose of subsequent resale.”

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