Latest / STR Unpacked / Greece Will Pay You To Quit
Transcript
- Ben: Morning and welcome to your short-term mental bulletin on the 9th of September. So this is a really interesting story in Greece. Greece is paying owners to leave the short-term rental market. And as the law stands today, that offer expires on the 31st of December. So on Monday, the government set out the detail of its Feneloski fare package. New registrations in the short stay registry stay blocked in central Athens and running Central Thanaloski now run into 2027. For Athens, that is a third year straight. The block has applied since January 2025. In the first, second, and third principal districts, and the Thanalosky first community joined in July. On the government's own numbers, it is biting to be honest. Like registrations across these three Athens districts fell from twenty-nine thousand five hundred and eighty-nine at the end of twenty twenty-four to twenty-seven thousand and thirty-six last October. So we're talking a drop of about eight point six percent. Now, if you're operating in this market, this is the bit that I think is super interesting. Since twenty twenty four, Greek law has offered thirty-six months of completely tax-free rental income. To owners who move a property out of short-term rental market or out of sitting empty and into a long lease of at least three years, up to 120 square meters. Now, that exemption expires on the 31st of December 2026, not 2030. The government said this week that it will extend it through to 2030, but that is an announcement, not a bill. As thing stands, you have 113 days. Find a tenant, sign a lease, and register it on my property. One trap worth knowing: a property inside a frozen zone that changes hands by sale, gift, or inheritance is struck from the registry and cannot be re-registered while the freeze runs. The registration does not travel with the building. Now, none of this week's package is the law. There is no Gazette entry yet, and the freeze itself is under challenge at the Council of State. filed in March. On the proportionality and the EU services directive, Greece has stopped arguing about whether to restrict supply and start pricing the exit instead. Greek rents rose 10.1% in just last year and this it is the second fastest in the EU and that is the pressure behind all of this. So when a government offers to pay you to leave a market, do make sure you read the expiry date and not the press release. Thank you for watching and I'll see you tomorrow.