Chinese invest in Greek real estate

Chinese investors line up to take advantage of cheap Greek real estate

26/07/2018

July 18, 2018
Chinese investors are lining up to take advantage of cheap real estate in Greece where prices hit bottom during the economic crisis. For Chinese buying property in Greece is of high interest due to the Golden Visa program that grants them a 5-year residence permit for them and their family.

Foreign buyers are lining up to invest in real estate in Greece, a market that crashed during the country’s economic crisis and has yet to fully recover. Prices dropped by around 45 percent though real estate agents say in some areas of Athens the real drop reached close to 60 percent. Prices hit rock-bottom with some apartments in the center of Athens selling for as low as 10,000-15,000 euros.

But it’s not only the cheap prices that make Greek real estate appealing to foreign investors (much cheaper than other European countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany).

Greece’s residence-for-investment program, introduced in 2013 and one of the cheapest in Europe, has been luring thousands of foreign buyers who, when they buy real estate property worth at least 250,000 euros (292,625 US dollars), get a five-year residence permit that also allows them and their families to freely travel in most of Europe.

Chinese buyers are the top nationality applying for the so-called “Golden Visa Program.” According to data from Enterprise Greece, by the end of 2017 Greece had granted 2,305 “golden visas.” Chinese investors make up almost half of all investors having been granted 1,011 visas, followed by those from Russia (395 visas) and Turkey (222 visas).

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