Seeking a bargain, and taste of the good life, Chinese buy Greek homes
Three times a week, hundreds of Chinese investors arrive at Athens airport to be greeted by Greek real estate agents who drive them straight into the city to view apartments for sale. The visitors are drawn to Greece by rock-bottom property prices and one of Europe’s most generous “golden visa” schemes, offering a renewable five-year resident’s permit in return for a $285,000 investment in real estate.
That’s enough to buy a three-bedroom apartment in the capital with a view to the Acropolis hill. It is also enough to bring the first glimmers of recovery to the market since the Greek economy started to collapse after the debt crisis in 2009, although prices are still down by about 40 per cent from their peak.
One Athens resident, who gave his name only as Vassilis, had almost given up finding a buyer for his home last year when a minivan pulled up outside his maisonette and a Chinese family of four got out. A day later, he got an offer. “They didn’t see the house again. We went and got a down-payment, and everything was set in motion,” he said.
Vassilis had bought the home in the up-and-coming suburb of Gerakas for $367,000 in 2007 and decided to sell in order to buy his two adult children their own apartments. He sold it to the Chinese family for ^ 220,000 .
Real estate prices rose 0.8 per cent in the second quarter year-on-year after a 0.1 per cent rise in the first —the first pick-up since 2008, according to Bank of Greece data.
“We are getting much more phone calls,” said Lefteris Potamianos, head of the Real Estate Association of Athens, which represents about 3,000 brokers. “The overwhelming majority is foreigners and there are yet some Greeks. Certainly, Chinese are by far ahead of the game.”
People like Lian Wenmin, 29, a former accountant from Beijing and potential golden-visa investor, say buying in Greece is not just about taking advantage of low prices and getting a visa that allows them to travel freely within the European Union. Greece’s warm climate is also part of the appeal, Lian says.