Greece Will Charge Non-EU Buyers a 15% Property Transfer Tax From 2027
Greece will raise its property transfer tax on buyers from outside the EU from 3% to 15%, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on 5 September in Thessaloniki.
Greece intends to raise the property transfer tax paid by buyers from outside the European Union from 3% to 15%, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on 5 September in his annual economic address at the Thessaloniki International Fair. The measure sits inside a wider package of support worth 2.2 billion euros for 2027, and reporting on the announcement puts the effective date at 1 January 2027.
What the change costs in cash terms
On a 100,000-euro purchase the transfer tax moves from 3,000 to 15,000 euros. On 200,000 euros it goes from 6,000 to 30,000; on 500,000 euros from 15,000 to 75,000; and on a one-million-euro property from 30,000 to 150,000. Transfer tax is paid once, at acquisition, and is separate from the annual ENFIA property tax and from notary, lawyer and land registry fees. For a non-EU buyer, twelve percentage points added at the front of the deal is a material change to the total cost of entry.
The comparison Greece is inviting
Coverage of the announcement drew the parallel with Ontario, which introduced a 15% non-resident speculation tax in 2017 and later raised it to 25%. That is the policy family Greece is joining: a surcharge aimed at foreign demand in a market where domestic buyers compete for the same stock. It is worth being precise about what the Greek measure is and is not - it is a transfer tax differentiated by the buyer's origin, not a ban, a quota, or a restriction on which properties non-EU nationals may acquire.
The rest of the housing package
The same address set out a third round of the subsidised mortgage scheme, My Home 3, to launch in January 2027 with a budget of 2 billion euros channelled through the Greek Development Bank, aimed at young buyers and couples with repayments intended to run below the rent on a comparable property. ENFIA, the annual property tax, is to be abolished from 2027 on primary residences in settlements of up to 2,000 residents, with the threshold set at 2,200 in Western Macedonia; the change takes effect with the annual assessment in mid-March 2027. A retroactive double rent refund for doctors, nurses and educators is scheduled for payment on 25 September 2026, with the next round on 30 November 2026.
How the market looks going in
Glopra's snapshot of 31 August 2026 puts the Greek national average at $2,799 per square metre on a gross rental yield of 4.38%, with prices up 5.4% over twelve months in dollar terms and a bubble-risk reading in the elevated band. Those are the conditions the surcharge lands on: a market that has been appreciating steadily rather than stalling, where a 15% entry cost is being applied to one group of buyers and not another.
What is still unsettled
The announcement is a political commitment, not yet enacted law, and the detail will decide its reach. It is not yet public whether the higher rate will apply to purchases made under the residence-by-investment route, whether primary residences bought by non-EU nationals already living in Greece will be exempt, or how the rate will interact with the VAT regime that applies to some new-build sales instead of transfer tax. Until the bill text is published, buyers and sellers have the headline rate and the effective date, and little else.
Sources: GreekReporter, 5 Sep 2026 https://greekreporter.com/2026/09/05/greece-tax-relief-plan/; Dnews (English), 6 Sep 2026 https://www.dnews.gr/eidhseis/news-in-english/608559/greece-makes-property-purchases-costlier-for-non-eu-investors; ProtoThema English, 5 Sep 2026 https://en.protothema.gr/2026/09/05/mitsotakis-unveils-pension-wage-and-tax-package-at-thessaloniki-international-fair/