Over the past decade, there has been a noticeable surge in interest among our people in purchasing real estate in Greece. Although the period when real estate prices in Greece were exceptionally low has passed, the interest remains high. Just five years ago, the price per square meter of apartments in Thessaloniki and its surroundings had dropped to 300€, whereas now those same apartments cost around 1000€ per square meter.

The majority of our people are buying apartments in the Olympic region, as well as in the small towns around Thessaloniki (Perea, Nea Epivates, Nea Moudania, Nea Kallikratia, Nea Plagia). Smaller apartments, one-bedroom and two-bedroom ones with prices ranging from 60 to 70,000€ are the most sought after. Most of our people buy apartments for themselves, not for renting. They usually use them only during the summer.

Read about buying real estate in Nikiti, Sithonia by clicking here.

Just over 20% of real estate buyers in northern Greece are from Serbia and North Macedonia. In addition to our people, more and more Greeks are buying apartments, as well as Bulgarians and Albanians who live and work in Greece.

The conditions for purchasing real estate in Greece are the same for foreigners as they are for Greeks, making the entire process of buying and transferring quite straightforward. A real estate agent in Nea Moudania (Halkidiki) is Serbian Tamara Stefanović, who has explained the complete procedure to us. You can contact Tamara via Viber at: +306979607218

If you are interested in buying an apartment, house, or plot of land in Greece, you can first look at websites with offers online. If you find a property you like or need more information, you contact a real estate agent and arrange to visit Greece and tour the properties that caught your interest. Based on your preferences, the agency can make an offer and select apartments for you to view in person.

If you decide on one of the offers, you leave a deposit with the agency and obtain the so-called AFM (tax number) which is necessary to complete the purchase and open a bank account. The deposit remains with the agency and amounts to around 10% of the property value. If the purchase does not go through due to paperwork issues or any other hindrance in the process, the deposit is returned. If the potential buyer changes their mind, the deposit is not refunded.

After selecting a property and paying the deposit, you can return to Serbia while the agency takes care of the necessary paperwork, a process that sometimes takes more than a month. During this period, the agency hires a lawyer to ensure all documents are in order, check for any mortgages or anything else that could be detrimental to the buyer. The agency can arrange for a lawyer, translator, accountant, and notary on behalf of the client, as well as change the name of the owner for utilities. Once all necessary preparations and paperwork are completed, the buyer only needs to come and sign the final contract.

The contract is in Greek, so the presence of a translator is mandatory. At the agency where Tamara works, the lawyer is often the translator as well, as they speak Serbian.

It is important to note that in addition to the amount paid for the property, there are other costs amounting to around 4 to 5 thousand euros if the property price is up to 50,000€, or slightly more for a more expensive property.

The annual tax depends on several factors, primarily the square footage, location, year of construction, floor level, presence of an elevator, etc. An average price is 5-7€ per square meter, but it can be slightly lower or higher.
The agency fee is 2% of the property price, plus VAT if the property costs more than 100,000€, and if the property value is lower than 100,000€, the commission is 2,000€ plus VAT. VAT is 24%.

The lawyer’s services amount to about 1% of the property value (the price at which the property was purchased), and notary services are also 1% if the property is more than 80,000€ and 1.5% if it is cheaper than that.
The translator’s service costs between 100 and 250€, depending on whether you want to pay the translator only when signing the contract or also want them to translate the contract into Serbian so you can submit it to a bank in Serbia.

It is very important to pay attention to the construction year of the properties because the difference in the property transfer tax can be significant. In fact, the tax is 3% if the property was built before 2009 and up to 24% if the property is newer. This tax is paid on the property value according to the cadastre. This value is usually lower than the price at which the buyer purchased the property.

Transferring ownership for utilities (electricity and water) is free if water and electricity meters already exist. If they don’t, the costs for installation can amount to a maximum of 1,000€.
The accountant’s service for keeping track of annual tax payments costs around 50€ per year.

If you wish, you can arrange for your own lawyer, notary, translator, and accountant. If you bought an apartment to rent it out, the agency can assist with renting, but only for periods of two months or more, not per day.
The agency also offers renovation services, or construction of a building if you purchased a plot of land.

Read our related article here.

If you want to hear the experiences of our people who own real estate in Greece and answered many questions from our Instagram followers, click here.

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