Greece residency from €250,000: the conversion route, explained

What changed — and what survived

Cheaper European routes do exist — and none of them leaves your client owning anything. Hungary’s entry at the same figure buys a fund subscription. Portugal’s buys a donation receipt, having removed real estate from its programme altogether. Malta’s widely advertised entry price is a lease. Spain closed its programme entirely in 2025. At €250,000, the conversion route is the lowest threshold left in the European Union at which residency comes with a freehold title deed in the applicant’s own name — an asset that can be held, rented and sold, rather than a receipt.

One category was deliberately preserved at €250,000, nationwide, with no minimum size and no location restriction: residential property converted from commercial use, where the change of use is completed before the residence application is filed. The seller may carry out the conversion — which is exactly the model our development follows.

The requirements, in plain language

To qualify on the conversion route, the investment must be a single property of at least €250,000, whose change of use from commercial to residential was completed before you apply — documented by the building permit chain and an engineer's technical report. Conversions must post-date 5 April 2024, the day the law's framework took effect. The price must be paid in full, by traceable bank transfer from your own account, certified by the notary at closing. Cash and crypto are not accepted.

The permit itself is a 5-year residence permit, renewable indefinitely while you hold the property. There is no minimum stay. It covers your spouse, children up to 21 (extendable to 24 in most cases) and the parents of both spouses. It grants visa-free movement across the Schengen area, and after seven years of actual residence, a path to citizenship exists for those who relocate.

The real timeline

Use 6–8 months as an indicative end-to-end planning range, not a guaranteed processing time. The single most important sequencing rule: the Greek bank account and source-of-funds screening come first, before any money moves. Bank onboarding often takes two to four weeks; the wider timeline also depends on legal checks, closing, filing, biometrics and authority workload.

The full cost picture

Beyond the €250,000 purchase price, plan for the transaction costs: transfer tax of 3.09%, notary fees, land registry, legal fees, plus the government application fee of €2,000 for the main applicant. We put these numbers in writing before you reserve — buyers should never discover costs at the notary's desk.

Note: on 5 September 2026 the Greek government announced that the transfer tax for non-EU individual buyers of residential property will rise from 3.09% to 15.45% from 1 July 2027 (first announced for 1 January 2027). The bill is not yet published and the treatment of the €250,000 conversion route is still open. Deeds completed before the effective date are taxed at today’s rate.

Why our inventory clears due diligence

Our units sit on the 107-hectare Markopoulo estate in Attica, held by a single owning entity whose title was acquired at public judicial auction under EY as court-appointed special liquidator — the most rigorously documented form of title transfer in Greek law. Every permit, engineer's report and encumbrance check is on file before a unit is ever offered. Owners receive full ground handling and, after closing, in-house management with compliant long-term rental of their unit and income remitted to them.

This article is general information about Greek real estate and the investor residence framework (Law 5100/2024, as clarified by Circular 1/2026). It is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Eligibility is confirmed per file by independent Greek counsel; figures such as taxes and fees are indicative and change. GreeceVisaInvest is a property distribution company — residence applications are handled by licensed lawyers and, where applicable, your migration agency.