Greece Raises Housing Support, Taxes Foreign Buyers

In Attica, the pressure is even more acute. Average rents have climbed to 12.5 euros per square meter, up almost 60% over eight years, while the region’s home-price gauge has topped 3,200 euros per square meter. That leaves households with less disposable income and raises the risk of more inflation stickiness in a market where roughly 30% of households rent.

The government is betting that more supply, not just price controls, is the only durable fix. It is extending a three-year income tax exemption for vacant homes moved into long-term leases, a tax break for building upgrades and the VAT exemption on new construction, while also keeping restrictions on short-term rentals in central Athens and Thessaloniki.

It is also moving to make speculative foreign purchases more expensive. From July 2027, the transfer tax on property bought by non-EU buyers not covered by exemptions will rise to 15% from 3%, a sharp hike after foreign investors from outside the bloc bought more than 1.2 billion euros of property last year, with Turkish buyers among the most active.

At the same time, Athens is expanding its subsidized “Home 2” program set to start in early 2027 with 2 billion euros in funding. Eligibility rises to age 55 from 50, the cap on eligible property values increases to 300,000 euros from 250,000 euros and the maximum loan rises to 230,000 euros from 190,000 euros.

The measures reflect a broader economic problem: Greece still has about 180,000 to 200,000 fewer homes than it needs to restore balance, while roughly 700,000 properties remain closed. A renovation scheme may help bring about 20,000 units back to market, but that is not enough to shift prices quickly.

Investors in housing-linked assets are already trading with that tension in mind. U.S. homebuilding ETF ITB and residential REIT tracker VNQ have both pulled back from earlier highs, while Adalytica’s Housing Fear & Greed Index for XHB sits in “Fear,” underscoring how sensitive the sector is to affordability pressures, policy risk and supply constraints.

The near-term catalyst is execution: whether Greece can actually unlock vacant stock and whether the tougher tax regime slows foreign demand without choking off construction and transactions.