Greece housing market 2026: prices, costs, selling FSBO

Greek home prices are still climbing in mid-2026, though the pace has eased from the post-pandemic surge. The Bank of Greece puts apartment prices up +5.7% nationwide year-on-year in Q1 2026, with its index reaching 111.90 (2007 = 100). Growth is broad: Athens +5.2%, Thessaloniki +6.4%, other cities +5.4%, and other areas +6.9%, so the smaller markets are now leading. Asking-price data runs hotter than the official transaction index, with the Spitogatos asking-price index at +7.9% for the same quarter and Thessaloniki asking prices up about +9.7% versus roughly +6.5% for Attica.

In euro terms, the national median apartment asks roughly EUR 1,900 per square meter (average about EUR 2,200), which works out to around EUR 190,000 to EUR 210,000 for a typical 100 square meter flat. Premium districts sit far above that: Athens South asks about EUR 4,091/sqm and Athens North about EUR 3,323/sqm.

Our own read lands at the top of that range. On June 23, 2026 we sampled 11 live, freshly updated two-to-three-bedroom apartment listings on a major Greek portal across central Athens and central Thessaloniki. The median asking price was EUR 210,000, with prices spanning EUR 78,000 for a small flat in Ano Kipseli up to EUR 550,000 near Pedion Areos. Rolling that forward by the Bank of Greece trend for the roughly three months since the Q1 reference date gives a nowcast of about EUR 213,000 for a typical urban apartment. Because our sample skews to central, larger-city listings, it sits a touch above a rural-inclusive national median rather than independently confirming it.

Greece is unusually seller-friendly on cost, because the buyer carries the largest taxes. The 3.09% property transfer tax (3% plus a small municipal surcharge) is paid by the buyer, not you. And the 15% capital gains tax on property sales remains suspended through December 31, 2026, so most individual sellers pay 0% on the gain right now. Confirm the live status before you close, since the suspension has been renewed annually rather than abolished.

The mandatory cost is the civil-law notary, who must execute the transfer deed, at roughly 1% to 2% of price. By custom the buyer often bears the notary fee, but who pays is negotiable. Each side typically pays its own lawyer for title and cadastre work, around 1% to 2%, and you will need an energy performance certificate and an engineer-prepared Electronic Building Identity, which are smaller items.

The seller's largest controllable cost is the agent. The Greek custom is that each party pays its own agent, customarily about 2% plus 24% VAT of the sale price, with a market range of roughly 2% to 4%. On a EUR 200,000 sale, a 2%-plus-VAT seller-side commission is about EUR 4,960, and at the top of the range closer to EUR 9,920. That fee is precisely what a private sale removes.

Selling without an agent is fully legal in Greece. There is no requirement to use a licensed broker. What you cannot skip is the notary, who by law executes the deed, and in practice a lawyer for the title search, the preliminary agreement, and the cadastre registration. So the question is not whether you are allowed to self-sell, but whether you want to take on pricing, marketing, and viewings yourself in exchange for keeping the seller-side commission.

In practice, agent-led sales still dominate, partly because Greek transactions carry a heavy paperwork file: fragmented titles, Hellenic Cadastre registration, the energy certificate, the engineer's building-identity check, and tax clearances from the revenue authority. Commission a civil engineer early, because unresolved unauthorized construction is the single most common reason a Greek deed stalls.

A private owner can advertise directly to the same buyers, since the dominant Greek classifieds accept both agency and private listings. Another option is Anyone.com, which is free for owner-direct listings and charges no commission. The seller-side commission of about 2% plus VAT is the avoidable cost. You keep that, while still paying the notary, your lawyer, and the required certificates to close. Subsidized state programs backed a large share of new Q1 2026 housing loans, with the 'My Home II' program alone about 13% of new loans by count, so a meaningful slice of your buyer pool is younger, financed, and rate-sensitive.