Greece Introduces New Golden Visa Category for Long-Term Rental Investments

Greece published its National Housing Policy Strategy 2026–2035 in the Official Gazette on 17 August 2026. Among its 50 measures is a new category of Golden Visa: investors may now acquire multiple properties instead of a single unit, provided they are rented out on a long-term basis. The text establishes the principle and timeline but does not yet specify the minimum investment amount or the number of properties. Until implementing legislation is passed, the current thresholds of €400,000 and €800,000 remain in force.

What the Strategy Published on 17 August 2026 Provides

The document was open for public consultation from 18 June to 3 July 2026, approved by the government housing policy committee on 23 July, and published in the Official Gazette (ΦΕΚ B' 5200) on 17 August. The Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family made the full text available online two days later.

The chapter on the Golden Visa (Objective 3, “Regulation of Short-Term Rentals and the Golden Visa”) distinguishes between existing measures and new ones. Only one is new: Measure 7, titled “Specialised Golden Visa Category.” The text describes it as allowing investors to acquire a portfolio of multiple properties rather than a single unit, provided these are exclusively rented out on a long-term basis within a set period. Short-term rentals are explicitly excluded, and a monitoring mechanism will be established to verify actual use.

The strategy places this reform in its first implementation phase—measures to be activated before 2027—and entrusts its execution to the Ministry of National Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. No public expenditure is foreseen; the document describes the measure as “reformative in nature.”

What Remains Undecided

The strategy is a framework, not a law. The full text itself states that implementing Measure 7 will require “a clear eligibility framework.” The following details are still to be defined in a subsequent legal act:

• the total minimum investment amount and the minimum value per property;

• the maximum number of properties allowed in the portfolio;

• the geographical areas concerned and whether thresholds will vary by region, as they do today;

• the minimum lease duration and the deadline for placing properties on the rental market;

• the controls and penalties for properties left vacant or rented out on a nightly basis.

Until these parameters are published, no applications can be submitted under this new category. Investors purchasing multiple small apartments today with the expectation of qualifying under the future category risk finding that the final criteria do not align with their plans.

The Current Regime During Transition

The Greek Golden Visa is a permanent investor residence permit, valid for five years and renewable, available to non-EU nationals. The strategy reiterates the three existing measures governing the programme since Law 5100/2024, which remain applicable:

At the first two levels, the investment must involve a single property of at least 120 m². The strategy explains the purpose of this rule: to prevent the cumulative purchase of multiple small units to meet the threshold, which would have removed much-needed housing stock from the market. It is precisely this logic that the new category reverses by permitting a portfolio approach while mandating year-long rentals.

Properties acquired under the Golden Visa programme may not be offered for short-term rentals, regardless of the platform used. This prohibition applies to both initial applications and renewals.

The €250,000 threshold has its own conditions. For a change of use, the official factsheet of the national register of administrative procedures, updated on 3 August 2026, requires that the conversion to residential use occurred after 5 April 2024, that the full price be paid by bank transfer or card to a Greek financial institution, and that a private insurance policy be taken out. Application fees amount to €2,000, plus €16 for the card. For listed buildings, the property must be intended for restoration or reconstruction.

Who Is Applying in 2026

Statistics from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, as of the end of July 2026, illustrate the programme’s scale. In the first seven months of the year, 3,086 initial applications were submitted; 856 have already resulted in permits, while 2,225 are under review. The total backlog of pending applications stands at 7,850 for investors themselves and 21,423 for their family members.

The 26,310 valid permits in circulation are held by investors from a wide range of nationalities. Chinese nationals account for 47.5 %, followed by Turks (18.9 %), Lebanese (4.5 %), Iranians (3.8 %), Britons and Israelis (3.2 % each), Egyptians (2.5 %), and Americans (2.4 %). Armenia and Serbia complete the top 10, according to the ministry’s July 2026 statistical annex.

The strategy itself notes that the increase in investment thresholds has had an effect: over the first nine months compared between 2024 and 2025, applications fell by 6.8 % and approvals by 33.2 %. This slowdown, combined with the shortage of rental housing in major cities, is driving the creation of a category focused on long-term rentals rather than further increases in investment thresholds.

What This Means for Your Project

For an investor targeting a single property of more than 120 m², nothing changes: the €400,000 or €800,000 thresholds, depending on the location, still apply, and applications are submitted under current conditions. The overall operation of the Golden Visa remains as described in our overview of the programme.

For an investor preferring to diversify capital across multiple properties, the door is now open—but not yet accessible. The parameters will be set by implementing legislation, which the strategy places before 2027. Until these are published, a bulk purchase of small apartments does not qualify for a permit, and the obligation to rent out properties on a long-term basis, with usage monitoring, is part of the framework from the outset.

For current permit holders, the ban on short-term rentals remains a condition for renewal. Among its new measures, the strategy also proposes extending short-term rental restrictions to additional high-pressure zones, though these are not yet specified.

For comparison, Hungary took a different approach in 2024 by setting a minimum investment of €250,000 in approved real estate funds rather than direct property purchases, as we explained at the time. Greece, meanwhile, retains direct property investment as its primary route and is now seeking to channel flows into year-long rental housing.