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

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.

What the exemption is worth

The transfer tax is 3% of the taxable value, the higher of the price and the objective value, plus a municipal surcharge of 3% of the tax: 3.09% in all, paid before the deed. The tax authority’s page 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.

Who qualifies: where you live, not only your passport

Article 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. A French or Dutch buyer who moves 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 explains. The golden visa 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, 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.