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by
September 25, 2023
Greece is a country with wonderful history and culture. It is the birthplace of democracy, ancient theater, and the Olympic Games. It is also a place of unparalleled beauty. From the Greek islands with a coastline that stretches over 1,600 kilometers, to the magnificent Acropolis, and from Meteora with the meteoric monasteries over steep rocky formations in mainland Greece, to the warmth and hospitality of everyone around you. In short, Greece offers a great mix of high quality of life with a low cost of living, 300 days of sun with an amazing variety of touristic destinations, a great growth trajectory with solid investment returns, and access to the EU with the Greek Residency Golden Visa. Now, let’s dive even deeper on why investing in Greece is actually very attractive.
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The Golden Visa Residency program allows non-residents of Greece who have invested at least 250,000 euros in real estate within Greece to obtain a permanent residence permit that grants them access to other European Union countries.
Greece is a member of the Schengen Area which allows any Greek residency permit holder to travel freely among all 26 member countries. This makes it easy for them to get around Europe without having any issues entering other member states or even neighboring countries like Bulgaria or Turkey where they don't need visas!
With the Greek Golden Visa Residency program, investors can enjoy a low cost access to permanent residence in Europe that comes with no minimum stay requirement or no restrictions on the type of real estate development projects one has to invest in. Or else, one is not restricted to residential property investments like some other countries require.
Real estate prices in Greece declined for many years, with the last four showing signs of notable growth. For example, residential property prices in Athens between 2007 and 2017 shrunk by 44.5% in nominal terms and 49.5% in real terms, reaching the lowest average price per square meter across mediterranean EU countries.
Thankfully, the housing market started to recover in 2018 with prices rising by 3.51%, and continuing to grow by 7.56% in 2019. Athens had even stronger house price growth of 11.57% in 2019 and continued with 6.23% in 2020, despite the pandemic. In 2021, apartment prices further increased at an average annual rate of 7.4%, but the market is still about 25% below the pre-crisis numbers, with forecasts across GDP, foreign direct investment, and expat migration pointing towards further rise in the subsequent years.
In short, many investors prefer Greece over other southern European countries like Italy, Portugal or Spain, as they can still buy a home at a very reasonable price, while being able to expect an attractive return.
The economy of Greece was in recession for years, but it is starting to turn around rapidly. From 2000 Greece saw high levels of GDP growth above the Eurozone average, peaking at 5.8% in 2003 but the subsequent Great Recession and Greek government-debt crisis plunged the economy into a sharp downturn, with real GDP dropping by -18.3% between 2009 and 2013. Thankfully, the country returned to modest growth rates of 1.1% in 2017, 1.7% in 2018 and 1.8% in 2019, with the economy further rebounding by 8.3% in 2021, after the pandemic, while the EU grew by 5.4% during the same period.
In addition, the first two quarters of 2022 closed with 7.8% GDP growth and the same number by year-end is expected to be than 5%. Greece is expected to exceed the total number of tourists that visited in 2019, helping those numbers be higher than what the European Commission earlier expected. What is more, on August 20th 2022, Greece formally exited the EU's "enhanced surveillance framework", which had been in place since the third bailout package in 2015, exactly four years earlier than it was initially planned.
The next 10 years appear to be very promising for Greece. In the next 5 years alone, the government funds for growth and innovation will funnel €60 billion in investments around digitalization, green transportation, education and infrastructure like roads, ports and airports.
Greece has become a hot spot for foreign investors. The last 3 years, Greece has attracted investments from some of the biggest corporations in the world. The most famous examples include Cosco, Microsoft, Amazon and Pfizer that collectively have invested more than €3 billion over the last few years. For example, Microsoft committed to invest €1 billion to establish a state-of-the-art data center, Pfizer opened a Digital Innovation Center for research and committed to invest more than €600 million, and Cosco invested more than €1.2 billion in key infrastructure like ports.
In 2021 alone, Greece welcomed an impressive 72.3% increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). According to provisional data from the Bank of Greece, net inflows of Foreign Direct Investment to Greece amounted to more than €4.8 billion in 2021 compared with €2.8 billion in 2020.
In 2012, the number of tourists that visited Greece totaled to 18.2 million. In 2019, the same number almost doubled to 31.3 million and the prediction for next 10 years is to be over 50 million per year. In terms of GDP influence, tourism currently accounts for 18% of Greece’s GDP and employs more than 900,000 people, accounting for one fifth of all its workforce.
Some of the most obvious reasons people choose Greece are its rich history, its gorgeous islands, and its amazing cuisine. Greece however has to offer way more than this. Greece offers mild weather with 300 days of sunshine. It offers a big variety of summer and winter destinations. For example, one day you can be at the beach, and the other on the mountains skiing or hiking. Whether you are traveling on a budget or looking for luxurious options, you will never run out of options. From the Aman resorts to the smallest rooms to let, Greece offers it all. What is more, Greeks are extremely hospitable and like to have fun, making the local nightlife very vibrant.
To top it off, Greece is located at the intersection of Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa making it a very convenient destination no matter where you are coming from or going to after. You can find direct flights from all major European cities, and more than 8 daily flights from the US. Greece also offers elaborate domestic transportation options with 80 airports, 168 touristic ports, 1609 miles of railway coverage, and a recently upgraded set of major highways.
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Retirees in Greece can enjoy access to a highly-quality public and private healthcare system. Greece offers free public healthcare to both citizens and residents, along with an even more elevated private set of doctors and hospitals. Greece’s health care system was ranked by the World Health Organization as one of the best in the world. Greece's health care was ranked 14th in overall performance of 191 countries surveyed (above other countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom) and 11th in quality of service in a report by the WHO. The same report indicated that the healthcare cost is the lowest among all the European Union countries.
To add to the great healthcare options, in July 2020, Greece introduced a new tax initiative to attract retirees. In short, if you shift your tax residence to Greece, you will be taxed at a flat 7% rate for the next 10 years, assuming you haven’t been a Greek tax resident for the last five years. All you need is a quick approval on your foreign pensioner’s application and all your income obtained from abroad can be taxed at that low rate.
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Greece is an excellent spot for a foreigner to reside in as costs of living are usually 30% lower than in other European countries. At the same time, this country offers high-quality standards of living. Greece has created an ideal environment for remote work, traveling, living, and even retirement.
Overall, you may live well on a monthly budget of €2,000, which covers the average estimated monthly costs and rent for a one bedroom apartment in Athens’ city center. In addition, an analysis of the most common tourist costs for UK visitors in 20 popular cities across Europe by Post Office Travel Money found that prices in the Greek capital have fallen by 15% since 2021 making it the most affordable capital in Europe. More specifically, the bill for expenses including two nights’ hotel accommodation for a couple, meals, attraction tickets and local transport fares, came to £207, compared with £218 in the runner-up, Lisbon.
All in all, Greece has it all. Attractive growth, affordable prices, natural beauty, and a great lifestyle. The Hellenic Residences team members are all local and we’ve been lucky to experience all the above. It will make us even happier to help you join the party. If you are interested in learning more about our available property options for you to invest in, feel free to contact us. We are here to also help you with your relocation and any financial planning needs that are required.
