Greece’s Golden Visa hotspots with the highest rates of property appreciation for investors

New analysis by Astons, the international experts on real estate, residency and citizenship through investment, reveals which areas of Greece provide the best investment opportunities based on annual price increases of up to 28% in the past 12 months alone.

Greece is one of the world’s most popular Golden Visa nations, and when it comes to the minimum investment required for residency to be granted, it operates a three-tier system.

Tier A concerns the most popular areas of Greece, such as Athens, Thessaloniki, and the Islands, and the minimum investment required in these locations is 800,000 euros (approx. $867,000), while all other areas, known as Tier B, require a minimum investment of 400,000 euros (approx. $435,000).

However, Tier C concerns those investors who choose to convert commercial property into a residential property, for which the minimum investment is 250,000 euros (approx. $278,000), regardless of where in the country the property is located.

Price growth over the past year

When choosing which part of Greece to invest in, it’s important to know how the local property market is performing because some areas have seen stronger house price growth* than others in the past 12 months.

Nowhere has seen stronger annual price growth than Piraeus in the region of Attica, with Aston also seeing the highest level of demand from Golden Visa investors, a factor that has no doubt helped to drive market performance.

Between Q3 2023 and Q3 2024, the average property price across Piraeus  increased by 27.8%, rising from an average of 2,000 euros per square metre to 2,556 euros per square metre.

Based on an average property size of 120 square metres, this means the average home in Piraeus costs 306,720 euros.  But Piraeus is a Tier A location which means it commands a minimum investment of 800,000 euros, so investors will need to bear this in mind when looking for the right investment opportunity.

In Kavala Prefecture in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the average property price has grown by 20.9% in the past year, up from 1,348 euros per square metre in 2023 to 1,630 euros in 2024. This brings the average property price to €195,600 in a Tier B region where the minimum investment requirement is 400,000 euros.

Strong price growth has also been recorded in Chios Prefecture (20.6%), Sporades (19.9%), Grevena (17.5%), Lakonia (14.6%), Chalkidiki (14%), Messina (13.4%), Achaia (13.2%), and Zakynthos (11.5%).

Citizenship, residence permit, and real estate investment expert for Astons, Alena Lesina, commented: “As with all countries, Greece’s property market is split into a number of local markets, each of which performs in different ways when it comes to price growth. Of course, some parts of the country will always perform well, from major cities like Athens through to the much-revered islands.

Golden Visa investors are wise to consider two things when selecting where to put their money. The first is price growth performance and the potential return on investment.

The second is which investment tier a given area falls into, because if it’s a Tier A area, you need to ensure that you are meeting the minimum investment enquiries.

However, there has been a great deal of regeneration, particularly across the most beautiful areas of Attica, such as Piraeus, Vouliagmeni, and Glyfada, whereby developers are taking older buildings such as hotels or offices, stripping them back to the load-bearing walls and giving them a new lease of life.

The result is an eco-friendly property with huge appeal that falls within the 250,000 euros Tier C investment classification and we’re seeing developers purchase more and more older commercial buildings to deliver properties directly aimed at Golden Visa investors.”

The article Greece’s Golden Visa hotspots with the highest rates of property appreciation for investors first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.