Greece billed €2,297,019,848.39 of ENFIA for 2026 and handed back €26,096,715.41 of it to owners who had insured their homes. That ratio is the story: the annual tax on Greek property lands on everyone with a title deed, while the relief that is genuinely open to a foreign owner is small, conditional, and claimed with paperwork in February.
On 17 October the tax authority issued a second round of statements for 15,689 properties. Every one of them was a 50% reduction for a village home, and every one was restricted to Greek tax residents. For anyone buying a holiday home in Greece from abroad, that route is closed. What remains is the 20% insurance discount, and it comes with a reconstruction-value test that most policies fail.
What Greece Billed Homeowners Under ENFIA in 2026
The Independent Authority for Public Revenue published the 2026 settlement on 15 March: 7,155,186 assessment acts, a bill for 6,171,359 taxpayers, and a total of €2,297,019,848.39. Spread across those taxpayers the average statement comes to €372.21, which is my division of the authority’s two figures rather than a number it prints. Payment runs as one amount or 12 monthly instalments, with the first due on 31 March 2026.
October’s round is a correction, not a new charge. AADE reopened 15,689 rights held by 15,304 people because the electricity supply number on their property declaration had been fixed after the central settlement, or because the main home couldn’t be matched to the declared residence at all. Those reductions total €806,587.66, and refunds only move once a valid IBAN sits in the tax registry.
The 20% Cut Needs Cover to €900 a Square Metre
Insurance is the one relief a buyer from abroad can realistically claim, and it doesn’t ask where you live. A natural person holding a right over an insured home listed in the E9 declaration qualifies, whether the house is a main residence, a second home or a rental. Four conditions decide it:
- the policy comes from an insurer on the Bank of Greece register;
- it covers earthquake, fire and flood together, not one of the three;
- it ran for at least three months inside the year before the tax year;
- the insured sum reaches the reconstruction value of the building, which AADE fixes at €900 a square metre.
That last figure is where most claims die. AADE’s own worked example takes a house of 100 m²: the reconstruction value is €90,000, so a policy of €100,000 earns the discount and a policy of €80,000 earns nothing, however faithfully the premium was paid. A rate of 20% applies to homes with a taxable value up to €500,000, and 10% above that line, charged on the tax on the insured house itself.
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Three Months of Cover and a February Deadline
Timing decides the rest. The insurance has to run for at least three months inside the year before the tax year, so the 2026 statements looked at policies that were live during 2025. The claim goes through myPROPERTY on the myAADE portal, and for this year’s bill the window shut on 16 February 2026. A policy that ran for part of a year still counts, but the reduction shrinks in proportion: three months of cover buys 5% rather than the full 20%.
Read that against the calendar as it stands. For the 2027 statement, cover has to run three months inside 2026, so a policy needs to be in force by 1 October 2026 at the latest. Anyone insuring a house bought in November gets two months into the year and no reduction the following spring. AADE lets an owner amend the application until the deadline, and where the central settlement doesn’t grant the cut, form Δ500 with the local tax office does the same job with the policy attached.
Who Gets the Relief and Who Pays Full Rate
Both reductions are built for different people, and that difference matters more than the percentages do.
| Relief | Who qualifies | What it was worth in the 2026 settlement |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance discount, 20% or 10% | Any natural person with an insured home in the E9 declaration, resident or not. Cover for earthquake, fire and flood, at least three months, insured sum at €900 a square metre | 428,147 beneficiaries and 609,219 rights, €26,096,715.41 in total |
| Village cut, 50% | Greek tax residents only: main home in the 2024 income return, resident on 1 January 2026, taxable value up to €400,000, settlement under 1,500 people | 583,724 rights in the central settlement, plus 15,689 in October |
| No reduction | Non-residents in small villages, owners above the value ceilings, uninsured houses | The full bill |
Divide the insurance total by the rights it covered and the average discount is €42.84. That is the honest size of it: on a house taxed at €600 the cut is €120, and on a bigger bill it’s still less than a week of a villa rental. Village relief is worth far more per property, which is exactly why it is fenced off with residence conditions.
What an Agent Should Check Before a Greek Purchase
Six checks, in the order they cost the least. None of them needs a lawyer’s letter, and each one corresponds to a place where a discount has already been lost.
- Ask for last year’s ENFIA statement, not only the E9. The statement shows what a property in Greece really costs to hold, and the declaration only shows what the seller remembered to file.
- Match the ΑΤΑΚ number and the electricity supply number against the E9. That mismatch is what held up 15,689 reductions in October.
- Compare the insured sum on the policy with 900 times the main floor area. Below that line the discount is zero, not partial.
- Confirm all three perils are named on the contract: earthquake, fire and flood. Fire cover alone doesn’t qualify.
- Check the policy start date. Cover beginning in November leaves two months in the calendar year and fails the three-month floor.
- Put the annual tax in the cost sheet beside notary fees and transfer tax. It is a recurring charge, and a buyer’s budget usually stops at completion.
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Where the Greek Property Tax Bill Actually Lands
Across both settlement rounds the pattern is simple. Greece’s reliefs are written for households that live in the country and declare a main home, and the village cut that dominated October’s correction is closed to anyone filing a Greek return from abroad. It repeats across European real estate: the discount follows the household the tax office can see, and the foreign owner is left with the one relief that asks for a policy rather than a residence.
None of it turns ENFIA into a rounding error, and house prices in the resort towns make the annual charge look smaller than it is in a village. Budget the full amount, keep the policy above €900 a square metre all year, and treat the reduction as something earned rather than assumed.
Questions Foreign Owners Ask About ENFIA
How much ENFIA does a Greek house carry?
It depends on the zone price, the age and the floor of the building, because the main tax is charged per square metre from a scale set in the property tax code. Across 6.17 million taxpayers the 2026 settlement averaged €372.21, and the only reliable figure for one house is its own statement.
Can a non-resident claim the 20% insurance discount?
Yes. The discount asks for a natural person with a right over an insured home in the E9 declaration, not for residence. The 50% village cut is different: it needs a main home in the income return and Greek tax residence on 1 January of the tax year.
Does the policy have to be with a Greek insurer?
It has to be an insurer registered with the Bank of Greece, and the company transmits the policy data to AADE so the application can be cross-checked. If a contract doesn’t appear on the platform, the insurer is the one who has to send it.
What if the discount is missing from the statement?
File a request through the tax office in myAADE under my requests, with form Δ500 and the policy attached. AADE grants the cut outside the central settlement when the documents check out, and a corrected E9 for the current year can still be filed without a penalty.
Does a cheaper policy still get something?
No. AADE’s example is explicit: a policy below the €900 a square metre reconstruction value gets no reduction at all, so the insured sum is the first thing to fix, not the premium.
