Greece Sotheby's International Realty Mid-Year 2026 Market Report: UK buyer demand up 60% year-on-year following the abolition of the British non-dom regime — British nationals account for 53% of all non-domiciled resident transactions in the firm's record

ATHENS, Greece, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Aggregate buyer demand for Greek luxury residential property reached €6.11 billion in the first half of 2026 — up 35 percent year-on-year and nineteen percent above the five-year trend — according to The State of Greek Luxury Property: Mid-Year 2026, the semi-annual market report published by Greece Sotheby's International Realty. The strongest driver of the expansion is British capital: UK buyer demand rose 60 percent year-on-year, the sharpest recovery among the market's five largest buyer origins, lifting the United Kingdom to 17.4 percent of all enquiries — clearly above its long-term average.

A new buyer category born of a regulatory shift

The report documents the emergence of the non-domiciled resident segment as a structural buyer category in the Greek market. From zero presence in the firm's transaction records through 2023, non-domiciled buyers contributed 29 percent of 2025 transaction volume. British nationals account for 53 percent of all non-dom transactions in the firm's record — the empirical signature of wealth relocating from London following the abolition of the UK non-dom tax framework, effective April 2025.

Greece has emerged as one of the principal beneficiary jurisdictions in this relocation flow, alongside the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland. The Greek non-domiciled resident programme, offering qualifying new tax residents a €100,000 annual flat-tax election on foreign-source income for a fifteen-year window, has matured into a functioning wealth-relocation framework with cross-party institutional support.

"The most important structural development of the last twenty-four months is the emergence of the non-domiciled resident segment," says Savvas Savvaidis, President & CEO of Greece Sotheby's International Realty. "From a category that did not exist in our records before 2024, non-domiciled buyers contributed nearly a third of our 2025 transaction volume. The majority of this segment is British. The Greek non-dom programme is functioning exactly as designed — and the buyers arriving in 2026 are larger, more institutional, and more committed than the buyers we welcomed five years ago."

Key findings of the Mid-Year 2026 report

• €6.11 billion in aggregate buyer demand (POA-normalised) in H1 2026 — up 35% year-on-year and 19% above the five-year baseline.
• United Kingdom +60% year-on-year at 17.4% of all enquiries; Greek domestic buyers remain the single largest national segment at 18.8%.
• Ultra-luxury anchors the market: properties above €5 million contribute 70% of total demand volume, expanding 45% year-on-year.
• Average enquiry value rose to €5.89 million and the median to €2.95 million — a 28% upward shift, the highest quality profile in the firm's history.
• The European buyer pool is broadening: Netherlands +199%, Belgium +101%, Spain +470%, and South Africa +264% year-on-year.
• Athens Riviera sets the mainland benchmark at a median asking price of approximately €10,000 per square metre, with branded off-plan product extending materially above this level.
• Geopolitical resilience: the Iran conflict produced a bounded forty-day disruption; by late April demand exceeded pre-war pace, and June closed at +64% year-on-year in value terms.

An institutional backdrop transformed

The report situates the demand expansion within Greece's macroeconomic normalisation: full sovereign investment grade across all five major rating agencies for the first time since 2010, debt-to-GDP reduced by fifty percentage points from its peak, and a residency-permit framework whose €800,000 minimum threshold in the principal zones positions Greek demand at a higher-quality price point than legacy programmes elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

"Greece itself has changed," adds Mr. Savvaidis. "Full investment grade across all five rating agencies means Greek property is no longer classified as a peripheral-EU asset for portfolio-allocation purposes. This is the backdrop against which we now compete for institutional global wealth — and the first half of 2026 shows that competition is being won."

About Greece Sotheby's International Realty

Greece Sotheby's International Realty is the exclusive representative of the Sotheby's International Realty brand in Greece, operating across the country's principal luxury residential markets: the Athens Riviera, Athens Center and northern suburbs, the Ionian Islands, the Cyclades, the Peloponnese, and Crete. The firm maintains a dedicated Private Office for ultra-high-net-worth clients and has handled landmark transactions exceeding €650 million in cumulative tracked property value, drawing on the global Sotheby's International Realty network of 1,100+ offices in 84 countries. The full Mid-Year 2026 report is available at sothebysrealty.gr.

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SOURCE Greece Sotheby's International Realty