A real estate transaction in Greece lasts up to 7 months

Transfer of real estate to Greece may take up to 213 days: Widely advertised digital services have been operating for more than 2 years, but bureaucracy The market is still slowing down.

Real estate market in Greece is still stuck in bureaucratic mechanisms: even after the introduction of digital services, the transfer of an object can take almost seven months. The country’s investment image looks cheerful, but behind the façade of digitalization there still lives the good old paper hydra, which clearly has not read the presentation on reforms.

Despite the simplification of procedures, electronic filing of declarations through the platform myProperty Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων (ΑΑΔΕIndependent State Revenue Administration) and work Ψηφιακός Φάκελος Μεταβίβασης Ακινήτου (Digital Property Transfer File), completion of the deal in Greece may still take up to 213 days. We are talking about the full path: from the beginning of the procedure to the signing of the contract and registration of the object in Cadastre.

According to the report Subnational Business Ready in Greece World Bankthe timing of the transfer of real estate varies greatly across cities. IN Alexandroupolis And Patrach the procedure may take approximately 56 daysV Athens — 136 daysV Larisa — 142 daysV Heraklion — 122 daysand in Thessaloniki – up to 213 days.

Why deals are slowing down

Such differences are especially important for a market that is trying to attract foreign investment and new capital. The speed of transaction processing is one of the basic factors by which investors evaluate a country. When buying a property turns into a months-long marathon, investment enthusiasm usually cools slightly. Money, oddly enough, does not like to stand in line along with documents.

According to the report, the main reason for the differences between cities is due to the transition from the old system mortgage registries To Cadastre. Where this transition is slower or is accompanied by accumulated delays, sellers, buyers, notaries and the entire market suffer.

But there is also a more unpleasant side to the issue. For decades, the old bureaucratic system created space for informal “decisions”, intermediaries, delaying procedures, pressure on citizens and questionable practices around documents. This is why digitalization is myProperty, Digital Property Transfer File and transition to Cadastre — was supposed to reduce the citizen’s dependence on offices, queues, personal contacts and those very gray areas where bribes, forgeries and administrative arbitrariness were too often born.

The problem is that digital services by themselves do not destroy the old system if it continues to resist within the procedures. When an official, agency, or registry loses the ability to manually control the process, some of the informal influence disappears. Therefore, resistance to digitalization in such areas almost always has not only a technical, but also an economic nature: transparency deprives the old bureaucracy of its usual levers.

According to market participants, hundreds of thousands of real estate transfer deeds may be pending at various stages of the procedure: from verification of ownership rights to final registration in Cadastre. This affects not only specific owners and buyers, but also the overall liquidity of the real estate market.

Notaries as a “one-stop service”

To speed up transactions, notaries are gradually turning into a kind of “one stop shop”. They take on more and more procedures necessary for purchase and sale, donation, parental transfers of property and hereditary transfers.

Their tasks include preparing a draft agreement, collecting the necessary documents, checking data and submitting a notarial deed. Formally, such a model should relieve citizens and speed up transactions. In practice, much depends on how quickly related services work, how correct the data in the registries is, and whether there are any old problems with property rights.

For the services that notaries provide within the framework of such a procedure, payment is provided in accordance with the provisions of Code of Notarieswhich determines their remuneration. In other words, part of the bureaucratic burden is transferred to notaries, but the complexity of the system itself does not disappear: it simply receives a more organized conductor.

The market pays for slowness

For the real estate market, such delays are especially painful now, when prices remain high, mortgages are expensive, and buyers have become more cautious. If a transaction lasts months, the parties face additional risks: financing conditions change, uncertainty increases, investors postpone decisions, and owners lose time.

In a country that wants to look like a modern investment platform, the procedure for transferring real estate should not resemble a pilgrimage between departments. Digital platforms are useful, but they don’t automatically solve the problem if they leave behind legacy delays, incomplete registries and overburdened services.

Editorial comment

History of the transfer of real estate to Greece shows a familiar problem: digitalization is there, but the old bureaucracy still knows how to survive within the new systems. The transaction, which should be carried out quickly and transparently, can drag on for months.

Digital services are important for more than just speed. They reduce the citizen’s dependence on offices, intermediaries and informal “accelerators”. That is why resistance to such reforms is often associated not only with technical difficulties, but also with the loss of old gray opportunities.

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