You do not have to spend €800,000 on property
Attica, Thessaloniki and the larger islands are high-demand zones where the Golden Visa property threshold is €800,000. If what you want is Greek residence rather than that particular flat, this is not the price you have to pay.
Where the €800,000 threshold comes from
Law 5100/2024 sets property thresholds by zone: €800,000 in Attica (including Athens), Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands above roughly 3,100 inhabitants; €400,000 elsewhere; and €250,000 for qualifying commercial-to-residential conversions and listed-building restorations.
Those thresholds cover the investment itself. They do not include transfer tax, notary, land registry and agency fees, which customarily add around 5% of the price on top — more if the announced transfer tax change takes effect.
If residence is what you are actually buying
The fund route’s minimum qualifying investment is €350,000, and it leads to the same five-year renewable permit: the same absence of a minimum stay, the same inclusion of spouse, minor children and qualifying parents.
The gap is more than the €450,000 between the two headline figures. The property route also carries transfer tax, notary, registry and agency fees at the outset, then ENFIA, upkeep and building charges every year afterwards. The calculator works all of that out.
When €800,000 is still the right answer
If you genuinely want to own a home in Athens or on an island — to live in, to holiday in, to hold long term — then the money is buying more than a permit, and the comparison does not apply.
What this page argues against is not buying property. It is buying a property you do not want in order to obtain residence.
What would the property route actually tie up?
- Property price
- €800,000
- Property transfer tax
- €24,000
- Municipal surcharge on transfer tax
- €720
- Notary
- €9,600
- Conveyancing legal fee
- €8,000
- Land registry / cadastre
- €4,000
- Estate agency fee
- €16,000
- ENFIA property tax (indicative)€3,200
- Upkeep, building charges, insurance€6,400
- Asset form
- Real property
- Management
- Owner-borne
- Liquidity
- Sale process, months
- Golden Visa eligible
- Yes
- Subscription
- €350,000
- Fund subscription fee (varies by fund)
- €3,500
- Fund management fee (varies by fund)€3,500
- Asset form
- Fund units
- Management
- No property to manage
- Transfer tax
- Not applicable
- Golden Visa eligible
- Yes
Both routes lead to the same 5-year renewable permit. The difference is not the outcome — it is how much capital leaves your hands, and whether you have to look after it afterwards.
Our fee is visible. Your investment is yours.
FastGreece charges a disclosed legal and administrative service fee. We take no sales commission, no kickback and no revenue share from any investment fund.
That keeps two things apart: immigration and legal advice on one side, distribution of an investment product on the other. An adviser paid by the fund has two clients.
The practical consequence: our fee is the same whether you end up in a fund or buying a flat. We have nothing riding on which way the comparison above comes out.
View the complete fee breakdown- Fund sales commission
- Kickbacks from a fund manager
- A share of your subscription
- Referral or introduction fees
- A cut of an estate agency fee
One legal and administrative service fee, itemised in full before you pay anything — the amount, what it covers and when each part falls due, all on the pricing page.
Frequently asked
- What about a €400,000 property outside the high-demand zones?
- That works, provided the property sits outside the high-demand areas and meets the other conditions. The same arithmetic applies though: add the transaction taxes and the annual holding costs before comparing it with a €350,000 fund.
- Is the fund route harder to get approved?
- Both routes face the same KYC and source-of-funds standard, and approval rests with the Greek authorities. What differs is the evidence: subscription and holding for the fund, transaction and title for property.
- Could I take the fund route now and buy in Athens later?
- Yes. Once you hold residence you can buy on your own terms and timetable, with no threshold amount dictating the purchase — which is the order a good many people end up taking.
Start by finding out whether this fits you
A two-minute questionnaire and a preliminary read on your position — including when the answer is that now is not the right time. No fee, nothing to prepare.