How €250,000 Qualifies for a Golden Visa in Athens and Attica — Not €800,000

The number everyone quotes

Athens and the rest of Attica sit in Greece's top Golden Visa tier: €800,000, for a single residential property of at least 120 m².

The number that actually applies to a conversion

Law 5100/2024 (Article 64, amending Article 100 of the Immigration Code, Law 5038/2023) sets a separate threshold: €250,000, for a property created by converting a commercial building into residential use, or by restoring a listed building. It isn't a discount on the standard route — it's a different qualifying category, and it applies at €250,000 regardless of location. In Athens, in Attica, wherever the standard price is €800,000, a genuine commercial-to-residential conversion qualifies at €250,000.

The condition that decides which conversions are worth it

The conversion has to be physically complete before the Golden Visa application is filed. And the finished unit can only be let long-term — never short-term, never Airbnb, for as long as it supports the residence permit. Breach that and the law allows for cancellation and a fine of up to €50,000 (Art. 100 para. 7A).

That single condition decides everything about what makes a good conversion. A long-term tenant isn't a two-week holidaymaker — it's someone renewing a lease year over year, most likely a local professional or family. That tenant expects what any real home needs: somewhere to park, somewhere to store what doesn't fit in the apartment, and shared amenities worth staying for. A conversion that skips these isn't just a weaker product — it's harder to let at all under the only letting basis the law allows.

Why the law makes this trade available

The reduced threshold isn't a favour to the buyer. A conversion adds a home that didn't exist before — an old commercial building becomes residential housing, in a market that needs more of it. Because the finished unit can only be let long-term, it goes straight into the housing stock available to local tenants, not into short-term rentals competing with them. That's a genuine win-win-win: the investor gets full Athens or Attica location, and the same five-year renewable Golden Visa, for under a third of the standard entry price; Greece gains long-term housing supply in exactly the areas that need it; and the finished property does real work in the local market rather than sitting as a paper investment.

We checked what's actually available at €250,000

We went through the qualifying conversions currently on the market in Attica against exactly that standard — parking, storage, and shared amenities a long-term tenant would actually want, not just a unit that clears the legal bar. Lopes Residences, in Paiania, was the one that had all three, and it's further along than anything else we looked at this month — on track to complete before the end of the year.

Eleven residences in total. Every one comes with its own parking space and storage, and a shared pool, garden and BBQ area serves the whole building. Six residences remain — three from €260,000, plus a single one-bedroom at €300,000.

Six left. If you're ready, here's how this works.

Once you've chosen a residence, you don't have to decide on the spot — take it off the market while you finalise things. Tell us how many days you need; we take that to the developer, seek approval, and revert to you personally. It's a request, not an automatic hold, but it's the way to stop one of the six remaining units moving while you're still deciding.

View plans and prices for the remaining 6 units →

Ready to take one off the market? Request a hold while you decide →