Golden Visa €250,000: commercial-to-residential conversion
✦ Key Takeaways
- The €250,000 threshold applies anywhere in Greece, but only to a property whose main-use spaces are converted to residential use — it is not a general "budget property" category
- The change of use must be completed before the application is filed
- Golden Visa eligibility does not mean the conversion is permitted under planning law — that depends on the zoning of the specific location and the Building Code
- Industrial buildings carry an extra condition: five years without an installed and operating industry, with specific documentation
- An already converted property is not necessarily a lawfully converted one — an unauthorised change of use blocks both the transaction and the application
- The €250,000 privilege is used once per property: on resale, the next buyer falls under the standard thresholds
The €250,000 category is the most misunderstood route in the Greek Golden Visa. It is often marketed as "the cheap ticket" to a residence permit, but in reality it is a narrowly defined exception — with its own legal requirements, documentation and technical checks, and two layers of scrutiny that the marketing usually leaves out: the immigration layer and the planning layer. This guide covers the conversion route from commercial property to residential use, based on Article 100 of Law 5038/2023 (as amended by Article 64 of Law 5100/2024), Joint Ministerial Decision 214926/2025 and Circular 1/21.04.2026. For the full picture of the program, see our complete guide to the Golden Visa Greece 2026.
What the €250,000 change-of-use category is
Case c) of paragraph 2 of Article 100 allows an investment in a property with a minimum acquisition value of €250,000 — instead of €400,000 or €800,000 — provided its main-use spaces change from any other use (commercial, professional, industrial) to residential. It applies anywhere in Greece, with no geographical restriction and without the 120 m² floor-area limit that applies to the standard categories.
To qualify, three conditions must be met: the investment must involve a single property; the change of use must be completed before the application is filed; and completion must have taken place after Law 5100/2024 entered into force, that is, on or after 05.04.2024. The conversion can be carried out by either the buyer or the seller — a crucial point of flexibility, because it also allows the purchase of already converted properties, subject to the checks we cover below.
A separate sub-case within the same threshold band is listed buildings under restoration (case d), with different terms — there, the application may be filed before completion, but full restoration is a condition of the first renewal. Listed buildings have their own legal framework and are not covered in depth here.
Which properties can qualify
The legislation does not restrict the previous use: any property whose main-use spaces are not residential and are converted to residential is eligible. There is no predefined list of permitted prior uses; the test is whether the main-use spaces are lawfully converted to residential. In practice, the most common cases are offices, retail units, and industrial or former industrial buildings.
Industrial buildings carry an additional condition: no industry may have been installed and operating in the building for the past five years. The Joint Ministerial Decision also sets out how this is documented: the engineer certifies it in their technical report, relying on a power disconnection certificate from the grid operator (DEDDIE) or the municipality, the E2 tax forms of the past five years, or a combination of documents from tax or other public authorities. Circular 1/2026 further clarifies that craft-industry (viotechnia) buildings are not covered by the definition of industrial buildings — for those, the five-year test does not apply.
Watch out for two cases that do not qualify: a property that was already residential when Law 5100/2024 entered into force cannot be "flipped" to another use and back to residential to access the €250,000 threshold; and a property built from scratch for another use under a permit issued after Law 5100/2024 does not constitute a change of use — conversion only exists on an existing building.
Golden Visa eligibility does not mean the conversion is permitted
This is where the biggest trap of the category lies. Immigration law defines when a conversion earns a residence permit — but whether the conversion can happen at all is defined by planning law. Under Article 5 of the Building Code (Law 4067/2012, as amended by Article 101 of Law 4759/2020), a change in a building's use is permitted only if the new use is provided for by the applicable planning provisions — that is, by the statutory land uses of the area.
In practice: an industrial building in a purely industrial zone can meet every Golden Visa criterion — five years without operation, single property, price above €250,000 — and still be impossible to lawfully convert to residential, because residential use is not permitted in that zone. No authority will issue the required administrative act, and without it there is no engineer's technical report and no application.
Our take: checking the land uses is the very first thing to do — before any price negotiation, and certainly before any deposit. One of the most common marketing claims is: "it's an office, so it can be converted." Our experience in commercial property says the answer is decided block by block, not by property type.
The change-of-use process, step by step
- Land-use check. Confirmation by an engineer that residential use is permitted at the specific location, based on the area's applicable planning regime.
- Technical and planning due diligence on the building. Legality of the existing state, any unauthorised works or pending regularisations — see our guide on unauthorized construction in Greece — structural adequacy for residential loads, and the building-code requirements of the new use.
- Determining the required administrative act. Under Article 29 of Law 4495/2017, where the change of use brings a less favourable alteration to the coverage diagram or to the structural design loads — the typical scenario in a commercial-to-residential conversion — a full building permit is required; in lighter cases, a small-scale works approval or an update or revision of the existing permit may suffice. The engineer makes this call case by case — there is no single, uniform "change-of-use permit" that fits every property.
- Issuance of the act and execution of the works.
- Completion and documentation. JMD 214926/2025 requires an engineer's technical report in specific prescribed wording, certifying the change of use on the basis of the act that was issued. A critical detail: completion is certified by the issue date of the act — and the rules also cover a permit issued before the law but updated or revised after 05.04.2024.
💡 Tip: before buying, ask the engineer to put two answers in writing: "is residential use permitted here?" and "exactly which act is required, and how realistic is its issuance?". Those two answers determine whether the investment stands — before a single euro is committed.
Already converted does not mean lawfully converted
Many properties are offered on the market as "Golden Visa €250k ready" — already converted into residences. This is where the second check comes in: if the change of use was carried out without the required administrative act, it is unauthorised (Article 29, Law 4495/2017) — and a property with an unauthorised change of use cannot produce the lawful documentation the JMD requires. It can prevent both the property transfer and the residence permit application.
Legalisation is possible — through the issuance or revision of a permit, provided the works comply with the current or the then-applicable provisions — but it costs time and money that must be priced in before the purchase, not after. And mind the timing: what counts for the €250,000 threshold is the lawful completion of the change of use on or after 05.04.2024, evidenced by the act that documents it.
Multiple residences from one conversion
Circular 1/2026 resolved a question of real significance for developers and investors: if the conversion of a single non-residential property produces multiple apartments, they all fall under the €250,000 category. The original investor retains their own eligibility as long as they keep one of the resulting apartments, worth at least €250,000 — documented by a valuation report from a certified valuer on the official registry.
The circular also covers mixed use: a former industrial building can be converted into a building where some units become residences (falling under €250,000) while others remain offices or shops (falling under the standard €400,000/€800,000 thresholds). For investors interested in redevelopment, this opens up real redevelopment structures that the simple "buy a €250k apartment" narrative doesn't describe.
💡 Tip: if you are planning a conversion into multiple residences, have the engineer and valuer confirm explicitly that the unit you intend to keep independently meets the €250,000 value test before committing to the subdivision.
Auxiliary spaces: what counts toward the investment — and what doesn't
Storage rooms and parking spots purchased in the same contract and located in the same building count as part of the "single property": they count towards the €250,000 investment threshold, though not toward any floor-area requirements. The circular's own example: a 60 m² apartment in a former industrial building priced at €248,000, plus an underground parking spot at €8,000 and a storage room in the same contract — a total of €256,000, and the investment is accepted, because the change-of-use category has no floor-area limit and the auxiliary spaces cover the value gap.
Resale: the privilege applies once
Circular 1/2026 is categorical: the favourable €250,000 threshold is used once per property. When the investor resells the residence that resulted from the conversion to another third-country national, the new buyer does not qualify at €250,000 — the transaction is now "residence to residence" and is assessed under the standard thresholds of €400,000 or €800,000. For the investor, this means the exit must be planned realistically: the pool of prospective Golden Visa buyers for the same property narrows sharply once the privilege has been used.
What's allowed — and prohibited — after you buy
Properties under the new regime may not be let short-term within the sharing economy, with sanctions up to permit revocation and a €50,000 fine. The change-of-use category carries one additional restriction: the property may not be used as a company's registered office or branch — and at renewal, a statutory declaration is filed confirming that the use remains residential. Long-term leasing is permitted as normal; for the tax side, see our guide on rental income tax in Greece.
Cost and time of the conversion
Beyond the price and the usual purchase costs, the conversion adds costs of its own: engineering fees for studies and supervision, the fees and levies of the administrative act, the cost of adaptation works for the new use, and — where needed — the cost of regularising prior unauthorised works. The timeline depends on the required act and the complexity of the building: a straightforward case with light works sits on a different scale from the full reconstruction of an industrial shell under a new building permit. Since the application cannot be filed before completion, the conversion time counts toward the total time to the residence permit — and must be reflected realistically in the plan before the purchase. For this reason, a preliminary technical costing by an engineer is strongly recommended before any purchase offer.
Checklist before you buy
Before committing funds to a €250,000-category property, confirm in writing that:
- The property falls within an eligible case (non-residential main-use spaces; for industrial buildings, five years without operation)
- Residential use is permitted at the specific location under the applicable land uses
- An engineer has determined which administrative act is required and that it can realistically be issued
- There are no unauthorised changes of use or other planning irregularities — or their regularisation has been costed
- The conversion completion timeline is compatible with the application plan
- The documentation requirements of JMD 214926/2025 and Circular 1/2026 are met
Common mistakes to avoid
- Assuming every commercial property can be converted. Land uses decide location by location — not the property type.
- Buying a "ready" converted property without checking the legality of the conversion. An unauthorised change of use means a property that cannot be documented and a transaction that stalls.
- Filing before completion. In this category, an application without a completed and documented change of use is rejected.
- Miscalculating the auxiliary spaces. They count toward the investment value — confusing this with the floor-area rules of the other categories leads to wrong eligibility calls.
- Exiting without a plan. The €250,000 privilege does not transfer to the next buyer — the resale is assessed under the standard thresholds.
Conclusion
The change-of-use route is the most accessible entry into the Greek Golden Visa — and the most technically demanding. The success of the investment is decided on two levels at once: immigration law, which sets the conditions for eligibility, and the planning and technical review, which determines whether the conversion can lawfully happen and on what timeline. Whoever checks both before buying is buying an opportunity; whoever checks only the first is buying a risk.