What does the typical buyer of a home in Greece look like? What is their age and budget, and what kind of homes do they look for?
Who Most Commonly Buys a Home in Greece?
People aged 50 years old and up, businessmen, and senior executives are the main buyers of holiday homes in Greece today. These people have saved up some money and are eager to buy newly built houses with modern technical specifications and materials. By a large margin, the largest group of buyers of homes in Greece has an available budget ranging from 250,000 to 600,000 euros.
“Up to 2023, our customers’ buying ceiling used to be – for the most part – properties worth about 450,000 – 500,000 euros, and this was the case for a relatively small number of buyers. The majority of them were mainly interested in houses in the 250,000 – 350,000 euros. Today, we are witnessing a shift of this, with increased demand for more expensive houses, often worth over 500,000 euros, of course modern constructions with private pools, big spaces, a garden and other amenities,” says Mr George Gavriilidis, CEO of Elxis.
I Don’t Fit That Profile — What Other Kinds of People Buy Homes in Greece?
Another important group of buyers are younger people, with ages ranging from 35 and up to 45 years old. They typically have higher than average incomes and, besides self-use, are also looking into buy-to-let use cases. They may rent out the property or sell it for a profit a few years later. The lack of a profit gains tax is also an advantage of the Greek real estate market.
In fact, based on Elxis’ data, that’s the main difference between younger buyers and buyers of retirement age. Retirement-age buyers tend to choose properties mainly for their own use and, in rarer instances, to rent them out or sell them for a profit. In contrast, younger people are more likely to buy for investment purposes.
Buyers from The Netherlands and Belgium
There are also differences depending on each buyer’s country of origin. According to Mr Gavriilidis, Dutch buyers, as well as Belgian ones, are the most active from an investor’s point of view. So, about 50% of these people tend to view the acquisition of a secondary home as an investment and prefer to rent it out during the time of the year that they don’t use the house. In fact, some of them, mainly Dutch people, often resell their houses within a couple of years for a significant profit.
Buyers From the US and Great Britain
Similarly, buyers from the US and Great Britain primarily prefer to keep their properties for their own use. Lately, however, more and more are also looking to secure a residency permit in Greece through the Golden Visa programme, even after the recent increase of the minimum investment threshold from 250,000 to 400,000 euros, provided that the house is in the mainland and not on an island with more than 3,100 residents, where the limit is now set at 800,000 euros.
Buyers from Germany and France
Meanwhile, buyers from Germany and France are also driven to the home market in Greece, mainly for self-use, but some of them are also looking to rent out their properties. Especially when it comes to German and American buyers, 10% – 20%, are Greek expatriates who wish to acquire their first house in their country of origin.
Which Areas of Greece are the Most Popular?
Holiday home buyers in the 250,000 – 600,000 price range choose both areas popular among tourists, but also parts of the country much less highlighted, depending on each ones’ preference.
For example, buyers from Northwestern Europe (for example, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France) prefer to buy a holiday home in Crete, the Ionian Islands, the Peloponnese, and Rhodes. Some of them also prefer some of the Cycladic islands, where they can find solid investment opportunities.
