Three key trends have emerged in the holiday-home market, according to Elxis – At Home in Greece, which specialises in marketing holiday homes to overseas buyers. These are rising demand for off-plan homes, growing interest from buyers in the US and the desire of more prospective buyers to settle permanently in Greece. Mr George Gavriilidis, founder and chief executive of Elxis, outlined these changes in the holiday-home market at the 27th Prodexpo, held recently.
“The Greek holiday-home market is no longer driven by short-term opportunities, but by trust and stability, as it matures. Buyers are more demanding, and this is gradually raising the quality of new-builds,” Mr Gavriilidis said at the Property Agents Forum, held as part of this year’s conference in partnership with the Panhellenic Federation of Real Estate Agents’ Associations.
The first trend highlighted in Elxis’s analysis is the growing share of buyers purchasing off-plan homes. This is because these properties are offered at competitive prices, have a high resale value and can be rented out to generate a satisfactory income. As Mr Gavriilidis explained: “In 2025, the share of home sales worth €600,000 or more tripled. At the same time, however, we are seeing particularly strong demand for newly built homes measuring 60 to 70 sq m, which cost considerably less. By property type, around seven in 10 buyers (71.7%) opt for a newly built home – or a property ready for immediate occupancy,” Mr Gavriilidis noted.
The second, equally important trend is the desire among a growing number of people to settle permanently in Greece. According to data presented by Elxis’s founder, almost one in three foreign buyers (30.8%) from Western and Central Europe, aged 45 to 65 and possibly nearing retirement, are seeking to buy a holiday home in Greece for permanent residence. This is encouraged by the tax incentive introduced for pensioners from abroad, under which the tax rate is just 7% for 15 years. Greece also offers a range of incomparable advantages, including an extensive coastline, a lower cost of living than other southern European countries, quality of life, direct air links to and from international destinations, and significant potential for capital appreciation on resale.
Another significant development, which began in 2025 and has continued this year, is buying interest from the US. “In 2024, almost one in eight of our clients came from the US. Now, following the end of the first half of 2026, we are seeing demand from the US and Canada rise by 50% compared with the same period in 2025. Three in 10 of these buyers are Greeks in the diaspora, of the second or even third generation,” Mr Gavriilidis said.
Elxis is particularly positive about the outlook for the holiday-home market. Mr Gavriilidis expects sales to rise by 15% this year compared with 2025, despite some buyers taking a wait-and-see approach in the first few months of the year because of geopolitical developments. That hesitation, however, was fully offset from May onwards.
“95% of our clients come from abroad, which gives us the perspective we need to identify market trends. 75% of our clients come from EU countries, specifically the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany, while the rest come from outside the EU, mainly the US, Switzerland, Australia and Canada,” Mr Gavriilidis concluded.