The Legal Process of Buying Property in Greece as a Foreigner

The legal process of buying property in Greece runs through eight concrete steps, and the first one is not finding a house. It is getting a Greek tax number. Foreign buyers who understand the sequence close cleanly in a few weeks. The ones who treat the notary signing as the whole transaction are the ones who discover an unpermitted extension or a co-owner who never agreed to sell, after the deposit is gone.

Greece places no general restriction on foreigners buying property. EU and non-EU citizens can both buy, with the only real limit being a special permit requirement for property in designated border and military zones such as parts of the Dodecanese, the northern frontier, and some islands. Outside those zones, the process is the same for an American, a Nigerian, or a German.

The eight steps, in order

1. Get a Greek tax number (AFM). Nothing happens without it. The AFM is your Greek tax registration, and you cannot open a bank account, pay tax, or sign a deed without one. Your lawyer or accountant obtains it from the local tax office (DOY), and a non-resident can get it through a representative.

2. Appoint a Greek lawyer and, if buying remotely, sign a Power of Attorney. A Power of Attorney drafted before a Greek notary, or executed at a Greek consulate abroad, lets your lawyer act for you so you never have to be physically present. This is standard for foreign buyers and is what makes a fully remote purchase possible.

3. Open a Greek bank account. You will need it to pay the transfer tax, the notary, and the seller, and to document that the funds came from abroad, which matters for later repatriation of sale proceeds. Banks ask for your passport, AFM, proof of address, and proof of income.

4. Run the legal due diligence (the title search). This is the step that protects you. Your lawyer searches the Land Registry and the Hellenic Cadastre (Ktimatologio) to confirm the seller's ownership, check for mortgages, liens, or claims, and verify there are no inheritance gaps where a co-heir never consented. Just as important, an engineer confirms the building matches its permits, because unpermitted construction is widespread in Greece and an illegal extension can block the transfer or trigger fines.

5. Sign the preliminary contract and pay a deposit. Once diligence is clean, the parties sign a private promissory agreement and the buyer pays a deposit, commonly around 10 percent, to take the property off the market. If the buyer walks away, the deposit is typically forfeited; if the seller walks, they usually owe double. Get this term right in writing.

6. Pay the property transfer tax. Before the deed can be signed, the buyer files the transfer tax declaration and pays. For resale property the transfer tax is 3.09 percent of the assessed or contract value. New-build property sold by a developer who opted into VAT can instead carry VAT, though Greece has suspended that VAT in recent years in favor of the transfer tax for most residential transactions. Confirm which regime applies to your specific property.

7. Sign the final deed before a notary. In Greece a Notary Public is mandatory and drafts the official deed of sale (symvolaio). Both sides, or their attorneys-in-fact under the Power of Attorney, sign before the notary, the balance of the price is paid, and the notary confirms the taxes are settled. The notary is a neutral public officer, not your advocate, which is exactly why you still need your own lawyer.

8. Register the deed at the Cadastre. Ownership is not complete until the new deed is recorded at the Hellenic Cadastre and the local Land Registry. Only registration makes your ownership enforceable against third parties. Your lawyer handles the filing, and you should insist on seeing the registration confirmation.

What the purchase actually costs on top of the price

Budget roughly 8 to 12 percent above the purchase price for the full transaction. That covers the 3.09 percent transfer tax, notary fees in the region of 1 to 2 percent, lawyer fees around 1 to 2 percent, Land Registry and Cadastre fees, and the real estate agent's commission, which in Greece is commonly about 2 percent plus VAT paid by the buyer. These are real numbers to plan for, not afterthoughts.

If the Golden Visa is your reason for buying

Greece overhauled its Golden Visa on August 31, 2024. The investment thresholds are now zoned. In Zone A, which includes the entire region of Attica (Athens and Piraeus), Thessaloniki, Mykonos, and Santorini, the minimum property investment is 800,000 euros. In the rest of the country, Zone B, it is 400,000 euros. At both tiers the property must be a single dwelling of at least 120 square meters. The cheaper 250,000-euro option now survives only for restoring listed buildings or converting commercial buildings into housing. Short-term rental of a Golden Visa property is banned, with revocation and a 50,000-euro fine for breaking it. If residency is the goal, choose the property with these rules in mind before you fall in love with a 90-square-meter apartment that will never qualify.

The clean answer

Buying property in Greece as a foreigner is an eight-step legal process: AFM, lawyer and Power of Attorney, bank account, title search at the Cadastre, preliminary contract with deposit, 3.09 percent transfer tax, notarial deed, and registration. The notary is mandatory but neutral, so your own lawyer doing the title and permit search is what actually protects you. Verify the developer or seller before the deposit, not after. You can check a Greek developer's delivery record on Bektu (https://bektu.com) as part of your diligence.

For more on the Greek market, see our guides on whether foreigners can own property in Greece and the top property developers in Greece for foreign buyers.