# The first-home exemption from Greek transfer tax: who qualifies when they move to Crete, the limits, and the five-year rule

> Greece waives the 3.09% transfer tax on a buyer's first home up to €200,000 for a single person and €250,000 for a married buyer, plus €25,000 for each of the first two children, but only for people who live in Greece or settle here within two years. Who qualifies, the conditions and the clawback, how it is claimed, and how it meets VAT on new builds and the golden visa, as the law stood in October 2026.

- Canonical URL: https://honestcrete.com/buying/first-home-transfer-tax-exemption-greece/
- Author: Fotis (Honest Crete, Heraklion)
- Section: Buying property in Crete · Stage: Costs
- Rules verified: October 2026 · Updated: 2026-10-25 · Published: 2026-10-25
- How to cite: "Honest Crete — The first-home exemption from Greek transfer tax: who qualifies when they move to Crete, the limits, and the five-year rule (rules verified October 2026), https://honestcrete.com/buying/first-home-transfer-tax-exemption-greece/"
- Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property and nobody here is an estate agent. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed, registered estate agent, not to us. No article names a developer or a specific property. Adverts on these pages are labelled as adverts and buy no say in the text.
- Sources:
  - Taxheaven, law 1078/1980 article 1 (read October 2026) — first-home exemption from transfer tax: a home up to €200,000 for an unmarried buyer, €250,000 married, €275,000 married with a disability of at least 67%, plus €25,000 for each of the first two children and €30,000 from the third; plots €50,000 and €100,000 plus €10,000 or €15,000 per child; lost if the family owns a home of 70 m² plus 25 m² per child in a district of over 3,000 inhabitants; Greeks, EU and EEA citizens, recognised refugees and non-EU long-term residents who live permanently in Greece or settle within two years; given once; five years' ownership; 100% additional tax if wrongly granted: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/1078/1980/arthro/1
  - AADE, Real estate transfer tax (read October 2026) — 3% of the taxable value plus a 3% municipal surcharge on the tax, paid by the buyer; first-home limits €200,000 unmarried, €250,000 married or unmarried with a disability of at least 67%, €275,000 married with such a disability, plus €25,000 or €30,000 per child; value above the limit taxed; buyer living permanently in Greece or settling within two years; declarations filed digitally on myPROPERTY (decisions A.1110/2022 and A.1065/2023): https://www.aade.gr/en/greeks-abroad-non-residents/property-taxation/real-estate-transfer-tax
  - Taxheaven, VAT Code ratified by law 5144/2024, article 27(1)(λα) (read October 2026) — the supply of a building to a person entitled to the first-home transfer-tax exemption is exempt from VAT; the exemption is judged finally at the time of delivery: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/5144/2024/arthro/27
  - VATCalc (26 November 2025) — law 5246/2025, published on 11 November 2025, extends the suspension of 24% VAT on new-build sales to 31 December 2026; developers may place unsold new homes in the regime, whose sales then pay transfer tax of about 3.09% instead: https://www.vatcalc.com/greece/greece-again-extends-real-estate-vat-exemption/
  - Capital.gr (27 August 2025) — the VAT suspension covers all of a developer's unsold properties and needs the developer's application to the tax office; VAT on new builds does not burden first-home transfers: https://www.capital.gr/tax/3940569/ston-pago-o-fpa-sta-neodmita-akinita-mexri-telos-tou-2026-pros-katargisi-odeuei-o-foros/
  - Dnews (24 October 2026) — a Finance Ministry bill due for a vote in November 2026 extends the new-build VAT suspension and the capital-gains suspension to the end of 2027; a 15% transfer tax from 1 July 2027 for individuals not tax-resident in the EU or EEA; announced, not law: https://www.dnews.gr/eidhseis/oikonomia/618378/spiti-mou-iii-11-paremvaseis-gia-fthinotera-enoikia-kai-perissotera-diathesima-spitia-ti-allazei-eos-to-2027
  - Dnews (12 September 2026) — the government's September 2026 package: the new-build VAT suspension and the capital-gains suspension announced to run to 2030: https://www.dnews.gr/eidhseis/oikonomia/609852/akinita-ston-pago-eos-to-2030-fpa-kai-foros-yperaksias

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Greece has a generous tax break for people buying their first home here, and it rarely comes up in a foreigner's purchase, because most foreigners do not qualify. Article 1 of law 1078/1980 waives the 3.09% transfer tax up to €200,000 for a single buyer and €250,000 for a married one, plus €25,000 for each of the first two children. It is written for people who live in Greece, including a European who moves to Crete for good. In short: if you are moving here and buying the family's only home, claim it, and plan to keep the house five years. The law as it stood in October 2026, checked against the article's text, the tax authority's own page, the VAT Code and the latest Greek reporting.

I am not a lawyer or a tax adviser, and this is not legal or tax advice. Whether you qualify turns on your family, your residence and what you already own, so have your lawyer confirm it in writing before the deposit.

**The first-home exemption in one minute.** Under **law 1078/1980, article 1**, a buyer's first home is free of the **3% transfer tax and its 3% municipal surcharge** up to a taxable value of **€200,000** for a single person and **€250,000** for a married one, plus **€25,000** for each of the first two children and **€30,000** from the third. Plots: **€50,000** and **€100,000**. It is open to **Greeks, EU and EEA citizens**, recognised refugees and **non-EU long-term residents** who **live permanently in Greece or settle within two years**. Neither buyer, spouse nor minor child may own a home of **70 m² plus 25 m² per child** in a district of over **3,000 people**. Sell within **five years** and the tax is due; claim it wrongly and **100%** is added. A qualifying buyer of a new build pays **no VAT** (VAT Code, art. 27).

## What the exemption is worth

The transfer tax is 3% of the taxable value, the higher of the price and the [objective value](https://honestcrete.com/buying/objective-value-vs-market-price-greece/), plus a municipal surcharge of 3% of the tax: 3.09% in all, paid before the deed. The [tax authority's page](https://www.aade.gr/en/greeks-abroad-non-residents/property-taxation/real-estate-transfer-tax) sets the exempt amounts: €200,000 for an unmarried buyer, €250,000 for a married one or an unmarried buyer with a disability of at least 67%, €275,000 for a married buyer with such a disability, each raised by €25,000 for each of the first two children and €30,000 for every later child. That is the "€200,000–275,000 plus an amount per child" in the objective-value article: the range runs from a single buyer to a married buyer with a disability.

In round numbers: a married buyer with two children who moves here and buys a €320,000 flat in their own name has a limit of €300,000, so pays 3.09% on €20,000, about €620, instead of about €9,900. The rest of the bill is in [what buying in Crete really costs](https://honestcrete.com/buying/what-buying-in-crete-really-costs/).

## Who qualifies: where you live, not only your passport

[Article 1](https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/1078/1980/arthro/1) lists five groups: Greeks; ethnic Greeks from Albania, Turkey and the former Soviet Union; EU and EEA citizens; recognised refugees; and third-country nationals with long-term resident status in Greece. What ties them together is residence: the buyer must live permanently in Greece or intend to settle here. The law's word is permanent residence, not tax residence, though the two usually travel together; see [the 183-day rule](https://honestcrete.com/buying/tax-residency-greece-183-days/). A French or Dutch buyer who [moves to Crete as an EU citizen](https://honestcrete.com/buying/moving-to-crete-as-an-eu-citizen/) qualifies like a Greek. A buyer still living in Lyon can claim it too, but has two years to settle; if they have not, they must file a declaration within the following six months and pay the tax.

For non-EU buyers the gate is narrower. The article names long-term resident status, which normally follows five years of legal residence, as [long-term residence and citizenship](https://honestcrete.com/buying/long-term-residence-and-greek-citizenship/) explains. The [golden visa](https://honestcrete.com/buying/golden-visa-crete/) is a separate investor's permit, so a golden visa on its own does not open the exemption.

## The conditions: no suitable home, and five years

The exemption is lost if the buyer, the spouse or a minor child already holds full ownership, usufruct or a right of habitation in a home that meets the family's needs, or a buildable plot that would, in a municipal or community district of more than 3,000 inhabitants. A home meets those needs at 70 m² (90 m² for a buyer with a disability of 67% or more), plus 25 m² for each of the first two children and 30 m² for each later one. A share of a small house in a village of 400 people does not block it; for a childless couple, a 75 m² flat in Heraklion would. Whether a home abroad counts, the article does not say: ask your lawyer.

The exemption is granted once, with a narrow route for a later replacement purchase. The home must stay in the buyer's ownership for at least five years: sell it, or grant a real right over it other than a mortgage, before then, and the tax must be declared and paid in one sum before the new deed. The article says nothing about letting. An exemption granted when the conditions were not met costs the tax plus an additional 100%, and the state has fifteen years to claim it.

## How it is claimed

The exemption is claimed in the transfer-tax declaration itself, filed digitally on the tax authority's myPROPERTY platform, normally by the notary; the deed is signed once the declaration is accepted and any tax on the excess is paid. The proof of family status, of what each family member owns and of residence is set by Finance Ministry decisions under paragraph 11 of the article, so the notary will tell you which certificates and solemn declarations to bring. On the two-year route you are promising a future move, and the tax office can check it.

## New builds: VAT, the suspension and the first home

A new build sold by its developer is in principle subject to 24% VAT instead of transfer tax. Two rules soften that. The first is permanent: article 27(1)(λα) of the [VAT Code](https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/5144/2024/arthro/27), ratified by law 5144/2024, exempts from VAT the supply of a building to anyone entitled to the first-home exemption, a status judged finally at delivery. The second is temporary: developers can place unsold new homes in a VAT suspension, extended to 31 December 2026 by law 5246/2025, and those sales pay transfer tax instead, against which a qualifying buyer claims the exemption. In September 2026 the government announced the suspension would run to 2030; on 24 October 2026 Greek reporting placed it in a Finance Ministry bill, due for a vote in November, extending it to the end of 2027 — an announcement until the vote. Buying off-plan, have the contract say which regime applies and who carries the tax if your status changes by delivery.

## The honest downside

The exemption rewards the people Greece wants to stay, and it is strict about the word. Two years to settle is short if a job or a school year abroad slips; five years of ownership locks you into a house that may be in the wrong village; and getting it wrong costs the tax twice over. The conditions are facts about residence, family and other homes that a buyer from abroad cannot always prove in Greek at a notary's pace. The new-build side depends on a suspension renewed one autumn at a time. And none of it helps a holiday-home buyer.

*Disclosure:* Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed estate agent, not to us; the full statement is below. Nothing in this article names a developer, a notary, a lawyer or any other professional; the tax authority (AADE) and the Finance Ministry are named as the public institutions they are.

**The verdict.** **Worth it if** you are an EU or EEA citizen, or a non-EU long-term resident, moving to Crete for good, buying the family's only home, and willing to keep it five years: for a married buyer with two children it is worth over €9,000 on a €300,000 home. **Skip it if** the house is a holiday home or an investment, the family's base stays abroad, or you may sell within five years; then budget the full 3.09%.

## Quick answers

**Do foreigners get the first-home exemption from transfer tax in Greece?**

Some do. Article 1 of law 1078/1980 extends the first-home exemption to citizens of EU and EEA countries, recognised refugees and non-EU nationals with long-term resident status, alongside Greeks, provided they live permanently in Greece or settle here within two years of the purchase. A holiday-home buyer who keeps living abroad does not qualify.

**How much is the first-home tax exemption in Greece?**

The first-home exemption covers a taxable value of up to €200,000 for an unmarried buyer and €250,000 for a married one, rising to €250,000 and €275,000 where the buyer has a disability of at least 67%, plus €25,000 for each of the first two children and €30,000 for each later child. Value above the limit pays the normal 3.09% transfer tax. For plots the limits are €50,000 and €100,000, plus €10,000 or €15,000 per child.

**Do I have to live in Greece to get the first-home exemption?**

Yes, or settle here within two years. Law 1078/1980 asks that the buyer live permanently in Greece or intend to settle, and a buyer who has not settled within two years of the purchase must file a declaration within the following six months and pay the tax. The test in the law is permanent residence rather than tax residence, although the two usually go together.

**What happens if I sell a first home within five years in Greece?**

The transfer tax becomes due. Law 1078/1980 requires the home to stay in the buyer's ownership for at least five years, and a sale before then, or a real right granted over it other than a mortgage, means declaring and paying the tax in one sum before the new deed. If the exemption was granted when its conditions were not met, an additional tax of 100% is added.

**Can I use the first-home exemption with a Greek golden visa?**

Not as a rule. The first-home exemption is open to non-EU nationals only if they hold long-term resident status in Greece and live here permanently, and the golden visa is a separate investor's residence permit. A golden-visa buyer should budget the full 3.09% transfer tax; the 15% rate reported from July 2027 for buyers tax-resident outside the EU and EEA was not law in October 2026.

**Do first-home buyers pay VAT on a new build in Greece?**

Not when they qualify. Article 27 of the Greek VAT Code exempts from VAT the sale of a building to a buyer entitled to the first-home transfer-tax exemption, judged finally at delivery. Separately, developers can place new homes in a VAT suspension that runs to 31 December 2026, with an extension to the end of 2027 in a bill due for a vote in November 2026; those sales pay transfer tax, against which the first-home exemption is claimed.