Congratulations on deciding to purchase Greek real estate. Greece is not only a popular tourist destination, but also exotic, scenic and quite affordable to live in or retire to. While Greece seems to make things easy for foreigners to purchase property, there are several things to know before rushing into buying that big fat Greek real estate.
First, when buying real estate, Greece allows three types of ownership. Full ownership, bare ownership and usufruct. Bare ownership simply means that you own the property but cannot occupy it nor rent it. Those privileges are reserved to the person who purchased it as a usufruct. The benefit of bare ownership is that the property is not taxed or is taxed on a lower rate and that the property is tended to by a usufruct.
Another thing to know is that foreigners can not only directly purchase property from landowners but also through public auction which can be done online and applies to both individuals and legal entities. Also, foreigners willing to invest a minimum of 250,000 euros will be entitled to the Golden Visa program. The benefits include Visa free travel in Europe, permanent residence in Greece which can be granted within 60 days and the ability to conduct business within the purchased property.
Speaking of business, there are some limitations after purchasing real estate in Greece (https://www.bluehomes.com/Immobilien-Griechenland-kaufen+verkaufen/kat.html). Greece charges annual taxation on properties. Also, taxes are also charged if the property is used in business such as rentals both short-term and long-term. For forest area properties, the land cannot be changed or commercialized. For properties close to borders, there are special restrictions and prerequisites that must be cleared with the government. There may be developmental restrictions to properties outside urban zones. Coastline property development are also subject to special permissions and lastly, for areas of outstanding natural beauty the purchase or development of the property may be blocked by the Ministry of Environment.
