Business
Injection of funds
The number of foreigners buying up properties – including shop and office space – and turning them into holiday homes in the Greek tourism hotspot of Halkidiki is on the rise. Demand for small summer properties is coming mainly from Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs, Cypriots and the Chinese. It’s another sign that people are making good use of Greece’s “golden visa” programme, introduced in 2013, which grants EU residency for real-estate investments over €250,000 with no requirement to stay in the country for an extended period of time. Though some critics says that the visa is being treated as a golden ticket to the rest of the EU (it allows non-EU citizens to travel to and do business in Schengen member states visa-free), the boost to the local economy can only be a good thing.