Ask three people what the Greek Golden Visa costs and you will get three answers, and at least two of them will be wrong. The figure most often quoted — €250,000 — stopped being the national entry point in August 2024, yet it still appears in property listings, agency brochures and a surprising number of law firm websites. If you are budgeting from that number, you are budgeting for a programme that no longer exists.
Here is what actually applies.
Three tiers, decided by the map
Article 64 of Law 5100/2024 replaced the flat threshold with a structure based on where the property sits.
€800,000 applies across the entire region of Attica — which means all of Athens, Piraeus and the coastal suburbs — together with the regional unit of Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and any island with a population above 3,100 inhabitants. In practice that captures Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Paros, Naxos and most of the islands an international buyer has actually heard of.
€400,000 applies everywhere else: mainland Greece outside Attica and Thessaloniki, and the smaller islands.
€250,000 survives nationwide, but only for two specific routes, which we come to below.
The geography is not intuitive, and it is where most budgeting errors begin. A buyer who has been quoted €400,000 for a Golden Visa apartment in a well-known island town is very often looking at an €800,000 property in disguise.
Two rules that catch people out
Under both standard tiers, the investment must be made in a single property. Combining two smaller apartments to reach the figure was common practice before 2024 and is now expressly prohibited. Buyers who structured around this in the past — and the agents who sold them that structure — sometimes assume it still works. It does not.
The second rule is floor area. The property must have at least 120 square metres of main living space. Auxiliary areas do not count, which means a listing advertising 130 square metres “total” may fall short once storage, parking and semi-outdoor space are stripped out. This is worth checking against the building permit rather than the estate agent’s particulars.
What the €250,000 route really is
The lowest tier has not disappeared, but it has narrowed to two situations: a property converted from commercial to residential use, and the restoration of a listed building. There is no minimum floor area in either case.
Two conditions matter. The change of use must be properly documented before the residence permit application, not merely intended. And each property may be used at this rate once — after that, a subsequent purchaser faces the standard thresholds. A conversion property being resold as a €250,000 Golden Visa opportunity may therefore already have spent its entitlement.
The letting restriction
A property supporting an investor residence permit may not be let short-term through sharing-economy platforms. Long-term letting remains available, but the yield model is materially different, and an investor who has projected returns on nightly rates will find the numbers do not survive contact with the rule.
This matters more than it first appears. For a great many buyers the Golden Visa was sold as a residency permit that pays for itself through holiday letting. That combination is no longer available, and it is better to discover this before signing than after.
Routes that do not involve property at all
Real estate is the best-known path but not the only one. Fixed-term deposits with a Greek credit institution, units in investment funds and alternative investment schemes, bonds, shares and investment in registered start-ups all qualify, with minimum amounts that vary by instrument.
For an investor whose objective is residency rather than a Greek property, a capital route is frequently simpler: no planning legality to verify, no floor area to measure, no letting restriction to work around. It is asked about far less often than it deserves.
What the permit gives you
A five-year renewable residence permit, freedom of movement within the Schengen area, and — unusually among European programmes — no minimum stay requirement in Greece. The permit extends to a spouse, children under 21 with scope for extension, and the dependent parents of both spouses.
Renewal depends on the investment being maintained. Selling the property does not simply convert the permit into an unconditional right of residence.
Before you commit
The single most expensive mistake in this area is confirming eligibility after payment rather than before it. A property that falls short of its zone’s threshold, or of the floor area requirement, or that carries unresolved planning irregularities, produces a refusal at the point where the money has already gone.
Establishing which tier applies, verifying the floor area against the permit, and checking title and planning legality are all inexpensive relative to the sum at stake, and all of them belong before the deposit rather than after it.
Our firm advises investors on Golden Visa applications and residency by investment, and on the legal due diligence that should precede any property purchase in Greece.
Thresholds and conditions in this area change. This article reflects the framework in force at the time of writing and is general information rather than legal advice on any particular transaction.