Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made this bold promise during his speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair.
To turn this vision into reality, he announced a new package of measures aimed at boosting Greece’s real estate market. These initiatives will affect thousands of property owners and could lead to the renovation and opening of nearly 700,000 properties.
The updated agenda is designed to address growing concerns among residents over rising property prices, low wages, and the shortage of affordable housing, especially in Athens.
A key part of the new plan is a three-year income tax exemption for property owners who open vacant apartments for long-term rentals. This measure also applies to those who convert their properties from short-term to long-term rentals, provided the apartment is used as a primary residence for at least one of the three years.
Data to identify eligible properties will be gathered from tax declarations (E2 and E1 forms). Initially, the program will target private homeowners, but the government is also considering extending the tax benefits to companies that own a large number of vacant apartments.
Experts predict that this initiative could bring tens of thousands of apartments back onto the rental market. Combined with other initiatives like the “Renovate-Rent” and “My Home 2” programs, this could help reduce the high cost of rent.
Currently, rental income is taxed at rates ranging from 15% to 45%:
With the proposed tax breaks, a property owner renting out an apartment for €500 per month (€6,000 per year) could save approximately €900 per year, or €2,700 over three years.
The government is continuing its efforts to mitigate the impact of short-term rental platforms like Airbnb on housing availability for Greek residents. Among the new measures are restrictions on renting out new properties in certain areas and stricter rules for landlords. These steps are intended to help reduce housing prices, though they are likely to cause dissatisfaction among those who invested in Airbnb during its popularity surge.
This will particularly affect areas where short-term rentals make up more than 5% of the housing stock, such as Koukaki in central Athens, the southern suburbs, and Thessaloniki. In these areas, new permits for short-term rentals will be restricted. If Airbnb starts to dominate other neighborhoods, the government plans to impose a ban on new registration numbers for rental properties.
Additionally, the authorities are working on a package of incentives for owners of vacant apartments to encourage them to bring more properties to the long-term rental market. This will not only increase the availability of housing but also help renovate neglected buildings that have deteriorated the appearance of many neighborhoods in Athens.
The new restrictions will be rolled out at different times for various areas, with the government implementing them selectively based on postal code data. This approach aims to more precisely balance the number of short-term and long-term rental properties.
For instance, in central Athens and Thessaloniki, where short-term rentals dominate, the issuance of new permits will be limited to prevent market oversaturation.
These measures are part of a broader strategy to address Greece's housing challenges, as outlined by Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Thessaloniki International Fair. The main goal of these initiatives is to improve housing accessibility for the local population.
The government is not only aiming to regulate the short-term rental market but also to increase the availability of long-term rental properties, supporting the owners of such housing.
Rather than imposing additional taxes or fines on unused properties, the authorities are focusing on incentivizing long-term rentals as a more effective solution to the housing shortage.
By limiting short-term rentals and expanding tax incentives, the government hopes to ease pressure on the real estate market in major cities and tourist areas, where rising rent prices and a lack of affordable housing have become pressing social issues.
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