Types of property you can buy in Greece
Do you want an old and beautiful home? Or would you prefer a cool and modern aesthetic? An apartment or villa?
Greece has a wonderful, varied choice of properties for sale. So, international buyers will have plenty to choose from, whether it’s their dream to own a seaside investment property, a sprawling country house or a townhouse in the heart of town.
Understanding the property language will make your search for the right home that much easier.
What type of property should you buy in Greece?
When you begin seriously to think about buying property in Greece, one of the first matters to nail down is the kind of property to buy.
That will help you choose a location, but equally the location you want will influence the kind of property you can buy.
What you are looking for will depend on the life you want in Greece. Are you looking for a busy and active life in Athens? A relaxing beach life in Sporades? An ancient tower converted into a modern manor house in the Peloponnese? Here we explore these options and many more besides.
City flat in Athens or Thessaloniki
Life in Athens is life in the centre of Greece. While you can purchase a luxury penthouse for millions, you can also find an apartment barely into five figures. You do get what you pay for in terms of location, neighbours and property maintenance.
However, you can also find nice and central apartments for less than €100,000, generally these properties will have a balcony for outdoor space.
You may prefer to purchase a top floor apartment as these will usually be quieter than other properties in the building (which usually means they come with the highest price tag as well).
There are so many benefits to living in Athens itself, from its position as a safe city to its great nightlife, shopping and dining, yet still with a peaceful lifestyle possible in quiet neighbourhoods. You can get there so easily all year too.
Alternatively, you could buy a city apartment in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. Here, you’ll find a more relaxed, less touristy vibe. The downside of this is that there is less opportunity for renting out your property, whereas over six million tourists head to Athens each year.
Townhouses
Popular across the country in both towns and villages, townhouses come in different forms. For example, they could be a terraced house or as part of large property development. These may well come with some form of small garden, and if part of a housing development, there will usually be communal gardens and/or a swimming pool.
Look out in particular for the beautiful Italianate/Venetian-style homes around harbours such as Chania in Crete and Kerkyra in Corfu.
Beach properties
Many people who move to Greece do so to experience that Mediterranean lifestyle. Greece has so much beachfront among its 200-plus inhabited islands that you are spoiled for choice. You will just want to check what the route is like in the off-season, it may require a ferry or two.
Beachfront properties can come in many different shapes and sizes. You could purchase an apartment in a complex with amenities like a communal pool, a stone’s throw away from the beach. Apartments are popular as they are easy to look after and easy to rent out in the summer. If you prefer the privacy of villa, these are not hard to find but tend to be pricier.
Country cottages
For many, moving to a remote part of Europe to renovate and resuscitate an old country house is the dream, and Greece is one of the most popular places to do this. Across the country you will find many different properties needing varying degrees of work — from those which just need a little bit of redecorating to those that need a new roof and structural repair to the walls. The islands of the country are particularly good for renovation projects, such as Crete, Corfu and Kalymnos.
Why not embrace your fantasy side and live out your Grecian dream in a converted castle, tower or manor house? These will need a lot more work than your average renovation project, but this could be worth it to live out your dream.
No matter the size of your renovation project, you must consult the right experts to help you through this project. Make sure you know exactly how much your tradespeople will charge before you sign the agreement. Do be aware too, of requirements for earthquake proofing in vulnerable areas. If it’s old and still standing that bodes well, but don’t take anything for granted!
A benefit of renovating these old country properties is their appeal as a holiday home for tourists. While it may take a bit of work, you can reap the rewards by renting the property out. A location in the countryside can offer more scope for year-round rental than beachfront properties that are generally only popular in the summer months. Do check conditions in the winter — Greece can get very cold. Should you decide that once you have finished renovating your property you are ready to sell and move on to your next project, you may well achieve a premium price.
Whitewashed village homes
In the Cyclades and Dodecanese islands, closer to the old Asia Minor, properties have more of a Middle Eastern look. Think of whitewashed houses with brightly coloured domes, doors and balconies. We’re all familiar with the images of Santorini’s bright white villages with their blue roofs.
Many were built before air con, so they have great natural cooling, with smaller windows for plenty of shade. You’ll find in the towns that they rarely have gardens — but that’s a small price to pay for stunning sea views!
Villas
Villas are particularly popular with families moving to Greece. In addition to the beach houses previously mentioned, you can find villas in most other places across the country — in towns, in housing developments and even out in the country. As a bigger property than a townhouse or an apartment, they are of course more expensive. But you will usually get a lot more for your money – such as larger gardens, a pool, storage, space for an office or studio (or shed!).
Italianate villas
The Ionian Islands are a former territory of Venice. These islands in the west, such as Corfu, are noted for their stylish Italianate villas and waterfronts. Indeed, most islands’ harbour fronts are that style, reflecting the influence of the Venetian and Genoese sailors and merchants. These have become especially popular types of property in Greece among expats for conversion to small hotels and B&Bs. Likewise, you’ll also find a few buildings of this style in Crete, one of the southernmost former Venetian possessions. They’re especially common in Chania and Rethymnon.
Buy-to-let properties
It is becoming increasingly popular to buy properties to rent out in the urban areas where young people are starting their adult lives, such as Athens and Thessaloniki. However, it is important to remember that there are more laws in place when buying a property specifically to rent out.
You must have an EOT (Elinko Organismo Tourismo – the Greek National Tourist Organisation) licence and there are conditions attached to this. If you wish to let a flat, for example, then all properties in the building must apply for the licence; to rent out a house, this must have its own private access. There are a number of different categories under this licence, so it’s a good idea to look into this in as much detail as you can before you go ahead. There are large fines levied if any of the conditions of the EOT licence are not adhered to. If you rent out one or two properties, you must pay an accommodation fee (currently €1.50 per booking). If you rent out three or more properties, this is classed as a business activity. You must pay 13% VAT and taxes and fees of a hotelier.