Foreign buyers are driving major changes in Greece's holiday home market through off-plan purchases, permanent relocations and growing North American interest, property firm Elxis reported.
Giorgos Gavriilidis, founder and chief executive of Elxis, said the country's holiday property market is now moving on a foundation of trust and stability, reflecting its growing maturity. He said buyers have become noticeably more demanding, a shift that is progressively lifting the construction quality of new developments across Greece.
Mr Gavriilidis presented the analysis during a recent meeting of the Property Agents Forum, which took place in collaboration with the Hellenic Federation of Real Estate Agents.
The Hellenic Federation of Real Estate Agents serves as Greece's nationwide confederation of professional property broker associations, representing certified agents and monitoring brokerage practices across the country. Elxis, which trades as Elxis: At Home in Greece, specializes in promoting Greek vacation homes to international buyers, with cross-border transactions forming the core of its brokerage operations.
Demand for off-plan holiday properties
The first major trend identified in the Elxis report is a significant increase in buyers choosing holiday homes sold off-plan, where purchasers agree to buy a property before or during construction based on architectural plans.
Mr Gavriilidis explained that buyers are turning to off-plan residences because they are offered at competitive prices, maintain strong resale value and are well suited to the holiday rental market, providing owners with an attractive source of regular income.
Since 2025, the share of property transactions valued at 600,000 euros and above has tripled, according to Elxis data. Meanwhile, the market has seen rising demand for smaller newly built residences measuring between 60 and 70 square metres, which carry a substantially lower purchase cost.
Overall, nearly seven out of ten purchasers, or 71.7 per cent, choose either a newly constructed home or a property that is fully finished and ready for immediate occupation.
Off-plan purchases have gained widespread popularity among overseas property investors in the Mediterranean. Buying from architectural plans allows purchasers to stage payments over the course of construction while securing newly engineered properties that comply with modern European energy efficiency regulations and contemporary building codes, advantages that older stone cottages and traditional village houses rarely offer.
Permanent relocation by European retirees
The second primary trend highlighted by Elxis is the growing desire among overseas buyers to relocate permanently to Greece rather than using their homes solely as seasonal retreats.
Figures presented by Mr Gavriilidis reveal that nearly one in three foreign buyers from Western and Central Europe aged between 45 and 65, representing 30.8 per cent of that age bracket, seeks to purchase a Greek holiday home for permanent settlement.
The trend has received strong support from a targeted tax incentive enacted by the Greek state for foreign pensioners. Under this scheme, qualifying retirees who transfer their tax residency to Greece pay a flat income tax rate of just 7 per cent for 15 years on their overseas income.
Alongside the tax relief, Mr Gavriilidis noted that Greece offers compelling structural advantages for permanent living. These include an extensive coastline, a lower cost of living than rival destinations in Southern Europe, high overall quality of life, accessible international flight connections and substantial room for capital appreciation when properties are eventually resold.
Greece introduced its 7 per cent flat tax regime for overseas pensioners to compete directly with similar expatriate tax systems in Portugal, Italy and Spain. The incentive has helped attract affluent European retirees seeking Mediterranean sunshine, lower living expenses and relaxed coastal environments away from Northern European winters.
Surge in North American buyers and diaspora interest
The third major development reshaping the Greek real estate landscape is a rapid increase in property demand from North America, led by buyers in the United States and Canada.
In 2024, approximately one in eight Elxis clients came from the United States, Mr Gavriilidis noted. Following the completion of the first half of 2026, demand originating from the United States and Canada grew by 50 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2025.
Mr Gavriilidis pointed out that three out of ten North American buyers are members of the Greek diaspora, representing second-generation and third-generation families who are seeking to establish a permanent physical connection to their ancestral country.
Large Greek diaspora communities have flourished across North American cities including New York, Chicago, Boston, Toronto and Montreal since the 20th century. In recent years, expanded direct transatlantic flight routes connecting Athens to major North American travel hubs during extended summer seasons have made traveling between North America and Greek coastal regions faster and more convenient for property owners.
Market outlook and international buyer profile
Elxis expressed strong confidence in the outlook for Greece's holiday property sector, projecting an overall sales increase of 15 per cent in 2026 compared to 2025.
Although geopolitical developments caused a segment of prospective buyers to adopt a cautious wait-and-see stance during the first quarter of the year, Mr Gavriilidis said that pause was fully compensated for by a rebound in buyer activity from May onward.
Cross-border demand dominates the firm's transactions, with 95 per cent of all Elxis clients coming from abroad. Mr Gavriilidis said this international customer base provides a clear, focused vantage point for tracking wider real estate patterns.
Buyers from European Union member states make up 75 per cent of the company's clientele, led primarily by purchasers from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. The remaining 25 per cent originate from non-EU countries, with the United States, Switzerland, Australia and Canada representing the leading sources of demand.
Greece's holiday home market has broadened considerably over the past decade. While prime island destinations such as Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes continue to attract international interest, foreign buyers have increasingly branched out into coastal regions of Crete, the Peloponnese and the Ionian islands, where land prices and development costs offer greater scope for long-term property investment.
