Greece Golden Visa Thresholds in 2026: The 250k, 400k and 800k Tiers Explained

The minimum real estate investment for a Greek Golden Visa is no longer a flat €250,000. Since 1 September 2024, Greece runs a three-tier system set by Law 5100/2024, which amended the residence-by-investment provisions of the Immigration Code (Law 4251/2014). The tier you fall into depends entirely on where the property sits and what you do with it: €800,000 in the most sought-after areas, €400,000 across most of the rest of the country, and €250,000 only for a narrow set of conversion and heritage-restoration projects.

Here is what each threshold actually buys, and the conditions that trip up buyers who assume the old rules still apply.

The €800,000 tier: Attica, Thessaloniki, and the popular islands

The top threshold applies to Greece's high-demand zones. That means the Region of Attica (which covers Athens and its suburbs), the Regional Unit of Thessaloniki, and the islands with a registered population above 3,100 residents, a group that includes Mykonos and Santorini. If the property you want is in central Athens, on the Athenian Riviera, or on one of the marquee Cycladic islands, you are looking at an €800,000 minimum.

Two further conditions apply at this level. The investment must be a single property, not a basket of smaller units assembled to reach the floor. The property must also have a minimum surface area of 120 square metres.

The €400,000 tier: most of mainland Greece and the smaller islands

Everywhere that does not fall into the high-demand list carries a €400,000 minimum. This covers most of the Greek mainland outside Attica and Thessaloniki, plus the smaller and less populated islands. The same two conditions attach: one single property, and a minimum area of 120 square metres. The old practice of aggregating several apartments to cross the investment line is now explicitly prohibited in both the €400,000 and €800,000 zones.

The €250,000 tier: conversions and listed buildings

The lowest threshold survives only for specific project types, and it carries no geographic restriction. You qualify at €250,000 if you convert a commercial property into a residence, or if you restore a listed or heritage-protected building. The conversion must be complete, and the change of use must be genuine. This route rewards buyers willing to take on renovation risk rather than simply purchasing a finished apartment in a prime postcode.

The short-term rental ban

The most commercially significant change in Law 5100/2024 has nothing to do with price. Property acquired for a Golden Visa can no longer be placed on the short-term rental market. Listing a Golden Visa apartment on Airbnb-style platforms is prohibited, and so is sub-letting. Investors who built their numbers around nightly-rental yield need to rework the model around long-term tenancy or personal use. Breaching the rule puts the residence permit itself at risk.

Why the location rule matters more than the headline price

The tiered structure changes the arithmetic for anyone who chose Greece for a €250,000 entry point. A one-bedroom flat in a walkable Athens neighbourhood that qualified two years ago now sits inside the €800,000 band. Buyers chasing the €400,000 tier are pushed toward regional cities, the Peloponnese, northern Greece, and the quieter islands, where the same budget buys considerably more space and where the mandatory 120-square-metre minimum is easier to satisfy.

The residency benefits are unchanged. A Golden Visa still grants a five-year renewable residence permit for the investor and immediate family, visa-free movement within the Schengen Area, and no minimum-stay requirement to keep the permit alive. What has changed is the price of admission in the places most foreign buyers actually want to live.

Practical points before you commit

Confirm the tier in writing before you sign anything. The boundary between an €800,000 zone and a €400,000 zone can turn on which regional unit a property sits in, and a listing agent's summary is not a legal opinion. A Greek lawyer should verify the location classification, the surface area against the 120-square-metre floor, and the single-property requirement.

Developer track record matters more under the new rules than it did under the old ones, because the single-property requirement concentrates your capital in one asset rather than spreading it across several. If the building is off-plan or recently delivered, verify the developer's delivery history before committing; platforms such as Bektu let buyers check whether a developer has actually completed and handed over past projects on time. A delayed or non-delivered unit does not just cost you money, it can stall the residence application that the purchase was meant to secure.

Finally, treat the short-term rental ban as a hard constraint, not a grey area. If your investment case depends on nightly-rental income, Greece's Golden Visa is no longer the vehicle for it.

For readers weighing Greece against other residency-linked markets, see our guides on Malta property tax and residency for foreign owners and the broader guide to foreign real estate investment in Asia.