Greece is preparing to launch a €480 million home renovation program aimed at returning thousands of vacant and deteriorated properties to the housing market amid a broader housing shortage.
An estimated 750,000 properties nationwide are currently vacant, including about 250,000 that are considered uninhabitable because years of neglect and damage have left them unsuitable for occupancy or rental. The new “Renovate” program is primarily focused on these properties.
The initiative is nearly 10 times larger than the previous €50 million “Renovate-Rent” scheme. It offers substantial financial support to owners of older, empty homes to carry out repairs and upgrades, while requiring renovated properties either to be occupied by their owners or rented out. Owners who choose to rent renovated homes must do so under long-term leases lasting at least five years and keep rents unchanged for the first three years.
Beneficiaries may later switch from owner-occupation to long-term rental without repaying the subsidy. However, resale is prohibited for at least five years after renovation, and short-term rental use is not allowed.
The program also seeks to address an investment gap that emerged during Greece’s economic crisis, when maintenance and upgrades to the housing stock largely ceased because of limited household resources. A National Bank study estimated that roughly 250,000 homes became uninhabitable during that period.
