Background guide. This guide describes the situation as it stood in February 2026. Rates and rules may have changed since, so check our newest guides for current figures.
Update 27 September 2026: Several of the assumptions below moved after February. The ECB raised its key rates twice: the deposit facility rate went to 2.25% on 17 June and to 2.50% on 16 September, with the main refinancing rate at 2.65% and the marginal lending facility at 2.90%. The 12-month Euribor, which sits under floating-rate Greek loans, was reported at roughly 3.2% to 3.3% in late September, so variable-rate quotes need to be re-run before a budget is trusted. Prices were still rising but more slowly: the Bank of Greece reported apartment prices up 5.7% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, after 8.1% for 2025 as a whole, with 6.9% for the group of areas outside the main cities that contains the islands. The dollar recovered part of its 2025 loss: the ECB reference rate was about 1.14 dollars per euro in late September, against 1.1805 at the end of February. In early September the government also announced that the transfer tax on homes bought by non-EU individuals would rise from 3% to 15% from 1 July 2027; it is not yet law, and it is the largest single change for a US buyer (see our guide to purchase costs). New Golden Visa applications fell to 2,551 in the first half of 2026 from 4,553 a year earlier, according to Greek media reports. Treat the sections below as a February 2026 snapshot.
Rates: a pause at 2%
In February 2026 the ECB deposit facility rate stood at 2.00%, where it had been since June 2025 after the cuts that took it down from the 4% peak of 2023. Greek floating-rate mortgages are priced off Euribor, which tracks where markets expect the ECB rate to go, so the pause meant steadier quotes rather than falling ones. A buyer planning in February was working with a rate environment that was low by the standards of the previous three years, but with no promise of further cuts.
Prices: still rising, more slowly in the cities
Bank of Greece data for 2025 showed apartment prices still rising at a high single-digit annual rate: 7.3% year on year in the second quarter, with Athens at 5.9% and the group the bank calls the rest of the country, which includes the islands, at 8.8%. The headline releases do not publish island-by-island figures, so a buyer on Santorini, Paros or Hydra is looking at a regional average that may say little about one street or one view.
The practical reading for a US buyer was to treat a national or Athens figure as context and ask for sold prices for the specific village or building, from your lawyer or a local agent.
The dollar had a hard 2025
The ECB euro reference rate was 1.0389 dollars at the end of 2024 and 1.1750 at the end of 2025, and 1.1805 on 27 February 2026. In dollars, a €400,000 home that cost about $415,600 at the end of 2024 cost about $470,000 a year later. Put the other way round, a dollar bought about 12% fewer euros at the end of 2025 than a year earlier.
The same arithmetic applies to every euro cost after the purchase, including the mortgage payment. A US buyer in February 2026 needed a budget that still worked if the euro cost another 5% more.
The tax calendar that mattered
Two dates shaped the cost of a new build. In November 2025 Greece extended the option to suspend VAT on new buildings to 31 December 2026 (Law 5246/2025), which means a buyer from a developer who uses it pays the 3.09% transfer tax rather than 24% VAT. On a €300,000 home that is about €9,270 against €72,000. Resales carried the 3.09% transfer tax in any case.
For buyers who wanted a residence permit, the Golden Visa real estate thresholds were €800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with more than 3,100 residents and €400,000 elsewhere, for a single property of at least 120 square metres that may not be let short term.
What had not changed
Non-resident lending was still lender-specific. Eurobank publishes up to 65% of commercial value for borrowers who are not Greek or Cypriot citizens, with a floating-rate term of up to 15 years, and Alpha Bank lists up to 70% for borrowers living outside the EU. Both are ceilings applied to the bank's own valuation.
On the US side, a Greek bank account in your name remained the reporting trigger: the FBAR applies when foreign accounts together exceed $10,000 at any time in the year, and Form 8938 has higher thresholds. Greek real estate held directly is reported on neither form.
2026 planning checklist
- Get a current quote from each bank and note the date; rate quotes from earlier in the year are not a plan.
- Ask for sold prices in your exact village or building, not a national average.
- Convert your budget at today's rate and at a euro 5% dearer.
- If buying new, confirm whether the developer uses the VAT suspension and what a deed after 31 December 2026 would change.
- Plan for ENFIA and US foreign-account filings as annual obligations.
Questions US buyers ask
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Who made this guide. Bas Terpstra makes, reviews and approves every guide, using AI tools and public sources as a starting point. Rules and figures change, so treat this as general information and confirm the details for your own situation.
This guide is general information, not personal financial, legal, tax or currency advice. Mortgage availability is subject to credit, income, valuation and lender criteria.