The number everyone gets wrong

How much do you need for the Greek Golden Visa in 2026?

Since 1 September 2024 the minimum property investment for the Greek Golden Visa is €800,000 in Attica (all of greater Athens), Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with more than 3,100 residents, and €400,000 everywhere else in Greece, in both cases for a single property of at least 120 square metres. The change was made by Law 5100/2024, Article 64, published in the Government Gazette on 5 April 2024.

The €250,000 figure that most advertisements, agency pages and AI chatbots still quote stopped being the general threshold on that date. It survives only for two special routes: buying a commercial or industrial building that is converted to residential use, and buying a listed building that you restore.

Why you still see €250,000 everywhere

€250,000 was the Greek threshold from 2013 to 2023, and it made Greece the cheapest residency-by-investment programme in Europe. Thousands of pages were written about it, and most were never updated when the law changed. In July 2026 we checked the paid advertisements and the top organic results for the main Arabic and English search terms: the majority still quoted €250,000 as the price of entry, and the leading AI assistants repeated the same figure with citations.

A buyer who arrives in Athens with a €250,000 budget and a standard apartment in mind is working from a number that is roughly three times too low for the capital. That is not a rounding error. It changes which city, which property and which route are realistic.

The three routes in full

The €800,000 tier covers the entire Attica region, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and every island with a population above 3,100. The €400,000 tier covers the rest of the country. Both tiers require the amount to be invested in one single property of at least 120 square metres. Two apartments of €400,000 each do not qualify in Athens, and a 90 square metre apartment does not qualify at any price on these tiers.

The €250,000 tier remains available nationwide for two specific cases: a commercial or industrial building converted to residential use, with the conversion completed before the application is filed, and a listed (protected) building that the buyer restores. These are real routes with real inventory, but they are project purchases with permitting, construction and timing risk, and far fewer qualifying properties exist than the advertising suggests.

The 120 square metre question on the €250,000 route

One point is genuinely disputed among Greek law firms: whether the 120 square metre minimum also applies to the €250,000 conversion route. Some firms read Law 5100/2024 as imposing no size floor on conversions and listed buildings. Others apply the 120 square metre rule across all tiers. Until the ministry or the courts settle the reading, treat any €250,000 offer under 120 square metres as a claim to verify in writing with your own lawyer before any money moves.

The rental restriction that comes with the permit

A property bought under the current Golden Visa rules cannot be offered as a short-term rental. The penalty is a fine of €50,000 and revocation of the permit. Long-term letting is a separate question with its own tax treatment. Any listing marketed to Golden Visa buyers on its short-term rental income is describing a use the permit does not allow.

What this means for a real budget

In Athens the working number is €800,000 for a single 120 square metre property, plus transfer tax of 3.09% on resale properties, plus legal, notary and registry costs that commonly add 1.5% to 2.5% combined. Outside the €800,000 zones, €400,000 buys the same permit under the same size rule, which is why a growing share of applications now lands outside the capital. The €250,000 conversion route exists, but it is a construction project with legal review attached, and it should be priced and diligenced as one.

Questions buyers actually ask

Keep reading

• The 2026 rules and how the purchase must be financed
• Every route that qualifies, compared
• Fees and processing times
• Applying from the UAE
• Applying from Saudi Arabia