Extension for one more year and specifically until its end 2025will receive the suspension of VAT on newly built propertiesas announced by the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis speaking at the POMIDA conference.

This intervention is part of an effort by the government to increase the housing offer the market, which today is a serious one problem. As the minister characteristically emphasized “because above all we believe that the lack of housing is dealt with primarily by the production of housing”.

But the government’s initiatives do not stop there. It has also been decided to increase the number of installments for its repayment LIGHT. Property owners will be asked to pay the Tax to 11 instead of 10 installments with the first being paid at the end of April, instead of the end of May.

According to the planning of AADE, in the next few days, the platform through which taxpayers will gain discount 10% to LIGHT for the homes they have insured for Natural Disaster and as soon as the process is completed, AADE will start the liquidation of ENFIA with the aim of the new liquidation bills reaching the taxpayers at the end of March and the beginning of April.

As the commander of AADE, Giorgos Pitsilis, speaking at the POMIDA conference, “the goal for this year is for ENFIA to open a month earlier so that it is paid in 11 installments instead of 10”. This means that the first installment of ENFIA should be paid at the end of April, instead of the end of May, and the last at the end of February 2025.

It is worth noting that the 24% VAT was imposed on the purchase and sale of real estate in 2006 and applied to real estate with a building permit from January 1, 2006 onwards, with the exception of the purchase of a first home.

The Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, left open the possibility of tax exemptions for real estate owners who will put a tenement in closed properties as proposed by POMIDA, noting: pointing out that “it is something we have discussed in the ministry. It is a proposition that cannot be easily dismissed. I have given instructions to the competent departments of the ministry to carry out the relevant studies, so that we can also see, based on ELSTAT’s data, the real number of properties and based on these data, we can do a cost-benefit analysis. In order to be sure of the control and crossings we will do, both the actual number of empty apartments and for all the other parameters. So that the decision we will make is based on more data.”

The landlords’ proposal states that landlords who closed their properties throughout 2023 or on 31 December 2023 had an inactive Short Term Letting Number, as long as they rent them out for at least three years from this year to the end of 2026, will not pay income tax on the rents they obtain from the specific properties. Tax rates for real estate income start at 15% for income up to €12,000 and go as high as 45%.