Spain vs Greece: where should you buy?

Greece, at every level

Athens averages around EUR 3,200 per square metre against roughly EUR 5,900 in Madrid, the Greek islands about EUR 2,650 against EUR 3,150 on the Spanish coast, and rural mainland Greece near EUR 1,200 against EUR 1,450 in rural Spain. Greece is cheaper across the board, and by the widest margin in the capital. The counterweight is momentum: Greek apartment prices have risen about 62 percent in five years against 50 percent in Spain, so the discount is closing rather than widening.

Greece, and it is not close

Greek transfer tax is 3.09 percent, flat, everywhere, and it applies to qualifying new builds too while the VAT suspension runs to the end of 2026. Spanish transfer tax on a resale is 6 to 10 percent depending on the region and higher still in a few. Total costs come to 5.5 to 8 percent in Greece against 8 to 13 percent in Spain. On a EUR 250,000 purchase that is roughly EUR 13,750 to 20,000 against EUR 20,000 to 32,500. Greek notary and registry fees are higher in percentage terms, but nowhere near enough to close a gap that size.

Greece, and the gap widens the more you own

Greece levies no wealth tax at all. Spain charges it on Spanish net assets above EUR 700,000, plus a state solidarity tax of 1.7 to 3.5 percent above EUR 3 million. Greek ENFIA works out at roughly 0.1 to 0.35 percent of market value a year against Spanish IBI at 0.4 to 1.1 percent of cadastral value. Greek capital gains tax for private sellers is suspended through the end of 2026, where Spain takes a flat 19 percent and the buyer withholds 3 percent of the price on account. The one place Spain is cheaper is rental income for EU and EEA residents at 19 percent of net, against a Greek scale starting at 15 percent but reaching 45 percent, with a new 25 percent middle bracket from 1 January 2026.

Spain, on financing and on speed

This is Spain's category. Spanish banks compete for non-resident business and lend up to about 70 percent loan to value; in Greece only a handful of banks run non-resident programmes, loan to value tops out near 60 to 65 percent, and rates sit around 4 to 5.5 percent. A Spanish resale completes in six to eight weeks, a Greek purchase in eight to twelve, and Greek land-registry backlogs can stretch that. Greece also adds a step Spain does not have: non-EU buyers need Ministry of Defence authorisation for property in the designated border areas, which covers Evros, parts of northern Greece, the East Aegean islands and the Dodecanese. Rhodes and Kos carry that step, Crete does not.

Greece, because Spain no longer offers it

Spain repealed its investor-residency regime under Ley Organica 1/2025 and the golden visa ended on 3 April 2025, EUR 500,000 property route included. Greece still grants residency against property: EUR 400,000 outside the main centres, EUR 800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands above 3,100 inhabitants, in both cases a single property of at least 120 square metres. Read the condition before you plan around it: under Article 92 of Law 5100/2024 a golden-visa property may be lived in or let long-term and may not be let short-term, and a breach costs EUR 50,000 per property plus the permit.

Spain, 6.5 percent against 4.4 percent

Spain's gross rental yield of 6.5 percent beats Greece's 4.4 percent by a margin that matters over a holding period. Both are restricting short lets. Greece requires an AMA registration, has banned new registrations in central Athens districts 1 to 3 through the end of 2026 with Thessaloniki following in March 2026, and fines start at EUR 20,000. Spain requires a regional licence plus the national registration number introduced on 1 July 2025. If the property is bought under the Greek golden visa the short-let question is settled for you: it is not allowed at all.