Buying property in Cyprus vs Greece

Cyprus on a resale, by roughly half: about 2.5 percent of the price against about 5 percent in Greece. Two things move the Cypriot figure. It is banded, at 1.5 percent on the first EUR 85,000, 2.5 percent to EUR 170,000, and 4 percent above that once the standing 50 percent reduction is applied, so the effective rate climbs with price. And a new build pays no transfer fee at all, because VAT applies instead: 5 percent on the first 130 square meters of a primary residence up to EUR 350,000, and 19 percent where the home exceeds 190 square meters of buildable area or EUR 475,000 in value and falls outside the scheme entirely. Greece suspended its own 24 percent new-build VAT to December 31, 2026, so a Greek buyer pays about the same on a new home as on an old one. Purchase prices are a separate question.

In Cyprus: Lawyer (δικηγόρος, dikigoros), with the transfer recorded at the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS). In Greece: Civil-law notary (symvolaiografos), with the transfer recorded at the Hellenic Cadastre (Ktimatologio). In both countries the oversight comes with the transfer itself, so it applies whether or not an agent introduced the parties.

The headline purchase tax in Cyprus is the Transfer fees (DLS). In Greece it is the Property transfer tax plus municipal surcharge (Foros Metavivasis Akiniton). Each country guide covers the full list, including the smaller registry and filing charges.

Agent commission typically runs 3 to 5% of the price in Cyprus and 2 to 4% in Greece, and commission is negotiable in both markets. Owners can also sell without an agent in either country, which turns the commission into a choice rather than a fixed exit cost.

Yes in Cyprus, and only in parts of Greece. Cyprus gates by nationality: every buyer from outside the EU needs permission from the District Administration for the district where the property sits, applied for on form COMM 145 under the Acquisition of Immovable Property (Aliens) Law, Chapter 109. The Ministry of the Interior states that no fee is payable and that applications take two to three weeks. The same permission caps what you may hold, at up to two units, meaning two dwellings or one dwelling with a shop of up to 100 square meters or an office of up to 250 square meters, or one plot of up to 4,000 square meters to build a home to live in, and the cap applies to a couple jointly rather than to each spouse. Greece gates by geography instead. A non-EU buyer needs no permission in Athens or across most of the country, but the designated border areas under Law 1892/1990, as amended by Law 3978/2011, are closed to buyers from outside the EU and EFTA unless a committee at the relevant decentralized administration lifts the prohibition on application. Those areas cover the northern land borders and reach several Aegean islands, including the Dodecanese, so an island purchase can fall inside them.

Different professionals, and the cost lands in different places. Cyprus is a common-law jurisdiction with no notary in a property sale, so the professional is a lawyer, whose conveyancing fee commonly runs about 1 percent to 1.5 percent of the price plus VAT. That lawyer drafts the contract, deposits it at the Department of Lands and Surveys, obtains the Form N313 tax clearance, and attends the transfer appointment at the District Lands Office, acting under a power of attorney if you cannot be on the island. Greece requires a civil-law notary, and it is the notary fee plus VAT and the Cadastre registration charges that carry the Greek buyer-side figure up from the 3.09 percent transfer tax to about 5 percent, with a civil engineer needed on top to issue the Electronic Building Identity before the deed can be signed. So the Cypriot cost is one professional you choose and negotiate with, and the Greek cost is two the transaction itself requires.