At Prodexpo 2026, held at the Athens Conservatoire, the Minister for Migration and Asylum, Thanos Plevris, sent a message to those seeking to circumvent the terms of the Golden Visa, either through deals that indirectly reduce the actual purchase price or through short-term rentals.
He made clear that the relevant residence permits would be revoked, while defending the programme’s continuation as a tool for attracting investment and expanding the available housing stock.
“We are not interested in a property being sold to a Chinese buyer for €250,000, with a guarantee that €100,000 will be paid back through a rental arrangement, and that they will receive a residence permit”, he said. He clarified that residence permits linked to cases in which the possibility of obtaining a Golden Visa for less than €250,000 has been advertised, regardless of how this is achieved, would be revoked.
He also referred to cases in which the ban on short-term rentals is being circumvented through subletting.
“We are also not interested in someone being granted a Golden Visa and then, despite our saying that we do not want short-term rentals, trying to let the property short-term through parallel subletting arrangements. In that case, the Golden Visa will be revoked”.
Explaining the thinking behind the changes to the programme, he stressed that the Golden Visa should be seen neither as an exclusively positive tool nor as the main cause of the housing crisis.
“The Golden Visa is a relatively loaded term, both in a positive and a negative sense”, he said, adding that “it is an important tool that can be used according to the needs you have”.
As he explained, the programme was initially intended to boost construction activity at a time when the sector was facing serious problems. Today, however, the housing crisis has changed policy priorities.
He also disagreed with the view that scrapping the Golden Visa would automatically lead to an increase in the available housing stock.
He placed particular emphasis on the ban on short-term rentals of properties included in the programme.
“What did we remove that was very important? We removed short-term rentals, because what matters is not who owns a property, but whether it is made available for long-term use”.
Mr Plevris also described the profile of investors the programme is intended to attract.
“What we are interested in is attracting serious investors who can find spaces that are not currently suitable for housing, invest in them and convert them, bringing more properties to market”, he said, clarifying that the properties could then either be used by the investors themselves or made available for long-term rental.
He also argued that incentives should be introduced to shift investment interest beyond central Athens, towards areas with greater scope for development.
On the investors’ geographical profile, he noted that Chinese nationals still top the Golden Visa programme, followed by Turkish nationals, while Israelis and Britons are also among the leading groups.
For her part, Eri Mitsotergiou, Principal and COO of Avison Young, spoke about the impact of geopolitical shifts on international property investment.
“All geopolitical shifts affect investment strategies, particularly those of cross-border investors, as we call them, who can invest in different countries”, she said, explaining that developments can change a country’s position on the international investment map.
As for Greece, she said that “Greece’s geopolitical role has been strengthened”, while the recovery from the economic crisis and positive economic data are boosting investor interest.
She stressed, however, that the Greek market had entered a different phase.
“Our market is not currently in a phase of opportunity”, she said, adding that “it has become more expensive but also more mature”. She stressed that geopolitical uncertainty continued to affect transactions.
Marietta Lazana, founder and chief executive of HouseMaster, Marietta Lazana, raised the issue of the gap between foreign investors’ interest and the completion of actual transactions.
“How much do we measure whether that interest ultimately leads to a transaction? The truth is, unfortunately, that we do not, if we are to be honest with ourselves. We do not have the exact figure”, she said.
Citing statistics from a large estate agency, she noted that around 48% of foreign investors who express interest ultimately do not complete a purchase, partly because of lengthy and complex procedures.
She then cited Dubai, where transparent listings, formal recognition of the estate agency profession and the use of data have helped strengthen investor confidence.
As she explained, “right now, a foreign buyer can be in their home country, go on Dubai’s property portals, scan a QR code and check the relevant land registry to see that the listing is genuine, that the property is actually on the market and that it really has the floor area stated”.
“Co-operation between the public and private sectors is extremely important in real estate”, she stressed, before presenting the HouseMaster platform, which aims to provide prospective buyers with information on prices, local infrastructure and services related to property purchases.
The discussion was moderated by architect and secretary-general of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dimitris Dimitriou.