The Greece Golden visa scheme, the most popular real estate investment scheme in Europe is set to expand with new investment options in next months.
Greece is introducing the following new options for golden visas, which investors qualify for long term five year residence permits in Greece, along with their family members
- Greek Government bonds for €800,000 locked for five years
- Bonds or shares of real estate investment companies – €400,000 for three years
- Bank Deposits in Greece – €400,000
At a press briefing on the Ministry’s plan over the next two months, Stergios Pitsiorlas, Greece’s alternate Minister of Economy and Development said that a new bill is drafted that will expand the ”golden visa” program of residence permits granted to property purchases in Greece.
According to Ministry of Migration Policy data,
- Greece issued a total of 8,593 golden visas (residence permits) to property owners and 21,097 family members from 2013 to 2018 (Aug). This means Each investor has accompanied 2.4 family members on average of 3 people in one family (father, mother, child) investing in Greece
- A estimated number of almost 30,000 residence permits issued to investors and their family members in five year for property investment in Greece.
- Chinese, Russians, Turkish and Iraqi’s are the top four countries applying for Greek golden visa scheme.
- Statistics also reveal Piraes, Athens, Pallini and Polygyros are the most popular locations to invest in Greece.
According to Enterprise Greece report
- GDP rose by 1.8% yoy in Q2 2018 leading to a growth of 2.2% for the first half of the year.
- In August 10, Fitch upgraded Greece’s rating by two notches to ‘BB-‘ with a stable outlook. On September 10, R&I also upped the country’s rating by one notch to ‘B’ with a stable outlook,
- Building activity (permits) rebounded by 16.2% yoy in June and overall by 7.8% in the 6-month period.
- House prices increased for the second straight quarter by 0.8% yoy in Q2.
- Deposit flow of Greek banks remained positive for the sixth successive month with inflows reaching EUR 841 million in July
According to IMF, Following a deep and protracted contraction, growth has finally returned to Greece. The large macroeconomic stabilization effort, structural reforms, and a better external environment contributed to an increase in real GDP of 1.4 percent in 2017.
Greece also announced plans cut taxes from 2019 on property and other taxes, giving a big boost to foreign investors.
According to the latest Bank of Greece data, net Foreign Direct Investment inflows during 2017 reached € 3,597million vs. € 2,820 million during 2016, an increase of 27.6%, marking a record for the last decade
