14 New Housing Measures: Greece’s Big Push on Rents, Loans and Golden Visas

Greece has millions of homes that are not being used as primary residences.

At the same time, thousands of families, young people, students and workers are finding it increasingly difficult to secure a home they can afford.

That contradiction sits at the heart of Greece’s housing crisis — and it is what the new National Housing Strategy 2026-2035 is designed to address.

The strategy includes 50 measures, of which 14 are new proposals. Ten are classified as immediate priorities, while four are longer-term interventions.

What makes the plan particularly interesting is that Athens is not simply proposing another round of subsidies. It is drawing on housing models already used in countries such as France and Portugal and attempting to intervene simultaneously in housing supply, finance, taxation and market structure.

Greece’s Housing Paradox: A Crisis With Hundreds of Thousands of Empty Homes

Greece’s problem is not only that too few new homes are being built.

A large share of the existing housing stock remains outside the primary residential market.

The 2021 census recorded roughly 2.2 million vacant dwellings, although that figure includes holiday homes, secondary residences and other properties that could not simply be placed on the long-term rental market overnight.

When those categories are excluded, estimates for genuinely unused housing fall to roughly 800,000-880,000 homes.

Even that remains an exceptionally high figure.

Much of the stock is also old. A significant number of empty homes were built before 2000 and require substantial renovation, energy upgrades or the resolution of ownership and inheritance issues before they can return to the market.

This is why the solution is not as simple as telling owners to “open up the empty homes”.

1. Faster Building Permits — With AI in the Process

The first proposed intervention targets the supply of new housing.

The plan calls for further digitalisation of the building-permit system, better use of the e-Permits platform and the Unified Digital Map, interoperability between state information systems and more automated checks.

Artificial intelligence could even be used to review documentation and identify missing elements in applications.

The logic is straightforward: the longer a developer waits to secure permits, the higher the cost and investment risk.

And that cost ultimately feeds into the final price of housing.

2. A Student Co-Living Platform

One of the most distinctive proposals concerns students.

A digital platform would allow students to find both available homes and potential flatmates, making it easier to split rent and other expenses.

Landlords would be able to list homes suitable for shared accommodation, while authorities are also considering linking the platform to the student housing allowance.

Particularly important is the proposal for state-backed guarantees covering unpaid rent or property damage.

That could encourage more landlords to rent to students.

3. Housing for Teachers, Doctors and Public-Sector Workers on the Islands

The housing crisis is especially acute on Greek islands and in tourist destinations.

Teachers, doctors, nurses and other public employees are often posted to areas where long-term rentals are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive.

The new strategy proposes a dedicated platform to match available properties with the housing needs of public-sector workers.

This is more than a housing issue.

It is increasingly becoming a state-capacity problem.

An island cannot run an effective school or health service if the teachers and doctors assigned there cannot find somewhere to live.

4. Cheaper Financing for Affordable Housing

Another major proposal is to use public financial tools to attract private capital into affordable and social housing.

Possible instruments include low-interest loans, guarantees and interest-rate subsidies.

In exchange, the homes built under such schemes would have to be offered under affordable or social-rent conditions rather than simply sold or rented at full market prices.

The model aims to solve a basic investment problem.

If affordable housing generates insufficient returns for private developers, the state can reduce financing costs without having to fund the entire project itself.

5. Public Land for Affordable Housing on the Islands

The government is also considering using underutilised public land in high-pressure housing markets, particularly on islands.

Private developers could be allowed to build on state-owned land, but part of the resulting housing stock would need to be offered for a fixed period at social or affordable rents.

In effect, the state would be using the value of public land instead of relying only on direct subsidies.

6. A New Central Housing Agency

Greece lost a central housing-policy institution when the Workers’ Housing Organisation was abolished in 2012.

The new strategy proposes the creation of a Unified Housing Policy Authority.

The body would collect market data, evaluate housing programmes and coordinate ministries, municipalities and other public agencies.

The key issue is permanence.

Housing shortages cannot be solved through isolated programmes lasting two or three years. They require long-term institutional continuity.

7. Social Rental Offices in Municipalities

The plan also proposes Social Rental Offices at municipal level.

These offices would act as organised intermediaries between landlords with available properties and households in need of affordable housing.

They would record available homes, help structure rental agreements and monitor implementation.

The aim is to create a more organised social-rental market without requiring the state to own every property itself.

8. A Revolving Fund for Social Housing

Another proposal is the creation of a dedicated fund for the acquisition and development of social and affordable housing.

The key feature would be its revolving structure.

Income generated from the housing portfolio would return to the fund and finance new investments.

Instead of a one-off subsidy, the government would be trying to create a permanent financing mechanism capable of expanding over time.

An initial capital base of around €20-25 million has been discussed, with the goal of attracting much larger public, European and private resources later.

9. Build More — But Give Something Back

One of the most economically interesting proposals involves planning incentives for private developers.

A developer could receive greater development rights or other planning advantages, but only if part of the resulting gain is returned to society through affordable or social housing.

This kind of model can be applied to both new developments and large underused properties within cities.

If designed correctly, it can mobilise private capital without imposing a large direct cost on the state budget.

10. A New Golden Visa With Housing Conditions

Perhaps the most politically sensitive proposal concerns the Golden Visa.

The new strategy suggests creating a special category under which an investor could acquire a portfolio of properties, provided those homes are placed exclusively on the long-term rental market for a fixed period.

The logic is to reverse one of the main criticisms of the existing programme.

Instead of foreign investment removing homes from the residential market, the new model would require that capital to increase the supply of long-term rentals.

If implemented effectively, the Golden Visa could evolve from a purely investment-driven programme into a housing-policy tool.

11. A New System for Tackling Homelessness

The strategy also proposes a more organised framework for dealing with homelessness and housing insecurity.

Measures include better data collection, an information system for tracking beneficiaries, evaluation of existing support structures, staff training and closer links with social services.

The aim is to replace fragmented interventions with a more systematic national approach.

12. A New “My Home” Programme Inspired by France

One of the most important proposals is a more permanent mechanism to help households buy their first home.

The strategy specifically references France’s Prêt à Taux Zéro (PTZ), or zero-interest loan.

The principle is that the state does not need to finance the entire property purchase.

Instead, it can provide an interest-free or heavily subsidised portion of the financing alongside a conventional bank mortgage.

That reduces the effective borrowing cost and can make home ownership accessible to more households.

For Greece, the key challenge will be designing a new “My Home” scheme that helps buyers without simply injecting extra demand into a supply-constrained market and pushing prices even higher.

13. Lower VAT for Social and Affordable Housing

The government is also examining reduced VAT rates for the construction of social and affordable housing.

Models in France and Portugal are among those being studied.

The proposal is not for a blanket reduction in VAT on all new homes.

The tax benefit would be tied to a specific social outcome: the construction of homes that must remain available at affordable prices.

That could lower construction costs while targeting support more precisely than a general tax cut.

14. A National Property and Rent Price Index

The final proposal may sound technical, but it could become one of the most important.

Greece is considering the creation of a National Property Price Index, based on real transaction prices, rental contracts, bank valuations, tax data and other market sources.

The index would also take account of location, size, quality and energy performance.

That would give the state a much clearer picture of where housing costs are rising fastest and where shortages are most severe.

There is also a politically sensitive dimension.

The strategy leaves open the possibility that the data could later be used as the basis for targeted regulation of rent increases or other market interventions, if authorities decide such action is necessary.

The Real Challenge: Increase Supply, Not Just Subsidies

This is the core issue behind the entire housing strategy.

Housing crises cannot be solved simply by giving renters more money or offering buyers cheaper mortgages.

If the number of available homes remains limited, part of the public support can simply be absorbed into higher prices.

That is why the most important part of the 14-point plan is the effort to increase housing supply.

That means bringing empty homes back onto the market, accelerating construction, developing social housing, using public land, mobilising private investment and offering targeted incentives to developers.

Without more supply, demand-side support risks becoming self-defeating.

Housing Is Becoming a Major Political Battleground

The housing issue now has all the characteristics of one of Greece’s biggest political challenges.

It affects young adults who cannot leave the family home.

Couples delaying family formation.

Students searching for accommodation every September.

Teachers and doctors assigned to islands where rents exceed what they can afford.

And middle-class households watching an ever-larger share of their income disappear into housing costs.

That is why the new proposals are gaining political importance ahead of the Thessaloniki International Fair.

But the real question will not be how many new measures are announced.

It will be whether they can genuinely change the balance between supply and demand.

800,000 Empty Homes: Greece’s Hidden Housing Reserve

Greece does not need to rely only on constructing hundreds of thousands of new homes.

It already has an enormous underused housing stock.

The roughly 800,000 genuinely empty homes at the centre of current housing-policy discussions may represent one of the largest untapped assets in the Greek property market.

Not all of them can realistically return to use.

But even a fraction, if renovated and activated in areas with real demand, could significantly increase supply.

That may ultimately be the most important test of the entire 14-measure package.

The government can subsidise rents, offer cheaper mortgages and create tax incentives.

But the success of housing policy will come down to something much simpler:

whether more homes actually reach the market — and whether workers, young people and families can afford them.