What Are The Costs of Living in Greece

Reasons to Buy Property in Greece

Before we get into the basic costs of living in Greece, let’s explore a few reasons you should consider purchasing a residence in Greece.

Investment Opportunity

Greece’s economy is slowly recovering from the financial crash of 2008, however unemployment and strikes have reduced the growth of the market in Greece. Compared to the UK, prices are around 60% less expensive in Greece.

Coupled with ever increasing tourism year on year, purchasing a residence in a tourist hotspot, although more expensive than rural areas, will provide a fairly good rate of return on your investment.

Styles to Suit Every Taste

From million pound villas to old, small ruins in need of renovation in the mainland. Greece has varying architectural styles to suit everyone’s individual tastes and desires.

Travel Logistics Improving

If you’ve ever travelled to Greece, especially the smaller islands, you may have noticed the lack of infrastructure in the Greek airports. This is set to be drastically improved.

Fraport AG, a German transport company, intends to invest 400 million Euros in 14 Greek airports. Along with this investment, Easyjet is said to be increasing the number of flight paths into Greece from various European airports.

Climate

The Mediterranean climate of Greece attracts numerous expats. The average temperature in Athens drops to 10deg in the winter and peaks to the mid 30s during the summer months. June, July and August only have 1 day of rain on average each year.

Breakdown of The Costs of Living in Greece

Below, we’ve put together a list of the basic costs of living in Greece. On average the costs of living in Greece are 25% lower than the rest of Europe.

The stats below will obviously vary drastically depending on your lifestyle and location you choose to live in. It should also be noted, the figures stated below are only an average.

Accommodation

The costs of either purchasing or renting in Greece can vary considerably. For example, renting a large Greek villa in a less popular location will cost less than an apartment in a highly sought after area.

Purchasing

For a small sized one bed studio in Greece, you can expect to pay as little as 15,000 Euros. Apartments in Greece cost slightly more – starting at around 20-30,000 Euros and ranging up to the millions.

Villas in Greece, especially those in sought after beachfront locations, can cost you upwards of £2,000,000.

It should also be noted, in order to move to, and purchase a residence in Greece, you must provide evidence that you have a monthly income of 2,000 Euros or above.

Renting

Renting in Greece is far cheaper than the majority of other European countries, even in the centre of Athens;

A 1 bed apartment in the city centre of Athens costs just under 300 Euros per month, for a 3 bed, you could expect to pay around 500 Euros per month.

Utilities & Taxes

Utilities

The monthly bills for electricity, heating and water for an averaged sized apartment in Greece costs around 145 Euros.

Apart from the winter months, you’ll definitely not require heating, however if you are sensitive to heat, you’d require air-con, which will increase your electricity bill.

Check out our article on saving energy for ideas of energy efficient systems.

Taxes

When working in Greece, you’ll encounter a notoriously high tax rate. Greek tax has one of the highest rates in Europe, especially if you are self employed.

It is estimated that 2 out of every 3 Greeks avoid the tax man. The taxes you can expect to be paying in Greece are:

• Corporate tax rate – 26%
• Personal income tax rate – 46%
• VAT rate – 23%
• Social security tax rate – 42%

Although the taxes may seem high, you could negate the effect of high tax rates due to the overall low cost of living and the laid back, relaxed lifestyle which you’ll experience.

Food & Drink

In some areas of Greece, such as the Island of Rhodes, there are no duties charged on imports. This helps to reduce expenditure.

The table below shows the average cost of various food and drinks in Greece.

|Item|Average cost in Euros| |--|--| |1 Liter Milk|1.16| |500g Loaf of bread|0.88| |1k White rice|1.58| |12 Eggs|2.91| |1kg of Cheese|7.93| |1k of Chicken breast|6.31| |1kg of Beef|8.90| |1kg of Apples|1.37| |1kg of Bananas|1.47| |1kg of Oranges|0.99| |1kg of Tomato|1.32| |1.5 Liters of Water|0.78| |0.5 Liter bottle of local beer|1.26| |0.33 Liter bottle of Imported beer|1.59|

Shopping & Leisure

One of the most notable aspects of visiting Greece is the cuisine on offer. Eating out in Greece is on average around 35% cheaper than eating out in major cities across the globe, yet provides an array of Mediterranean dishes.

Restaurant food will of course cost more in the highly popular areas of Greece.

You may also be wondering how much it will cost you for various other items or facilities.

The table below specifies the costs of various common items.

|Item|Average cost in Euros| |--|--| |1 pair of Levis 501 jeans|70.00| |1 Zara Summer dress|30.00| |1 pair of Nike trainers|70.00| |1 pair of leather business shoes|87.00| |Monthly gym membership|30.00| |Cinema (1 seat)|7.50| |1 hour on a tennis court|15.00| |Full course dinner for two|44.00|

High-end shops are usually only found in the more affluent islands such as Mykonos, however the smaller islands have a wide range of local markets where you’ll find unique clothing, gifts and foods among other items.

Transport

If you’re planning on relocating to a popular beachfront location in Greece, transport may not be a massive concern – it is often a short walk to the nearest local markets or shops.

If you are however considering living beyond walking distance, the figures below will give you a rough guide to the costs of transportation in Greece.

Monthly bus pass – 30.00 Euro One-way bus journey – 1.40 Euro Taxi journey – 3.40 Euro start + 0.75 Euro per km thereafter Gasoline – 1.57 Euro per liter

As cars will be imported, they may cost slightly more to purchase. However, as a global community, we should all be looking to reducing petrol and diesel car use. If you don’t need a car, don’t buy one.

Healthcare

Post 2008 recession, government funding on healthcare in Greece has dropped substantially, however whether expat or Greek, everyone is entitled to the same healthcare:

Whether you are travelling or living and working in Greece, emergency care is free.

Residents of Greece who contribute to the Social Insurance Institute (IKA) scheme are entitled to free, state-funded healthcare. However, some medications are not completely covered by the scheme.

In order to reduce your medical bills when living as an expat in Greece, you will need to register for a social security card (AMKA) and consider taking out private healthcare insurance.

The majority of Greek residents use private healthcare insurance due to medications costing more after government cuts and not being entirely covered by the IKA scheme.

With regards to personal healthcare products, prices are generally slightly higher than other major countries due to import taxes – unless on an island such as Rhodes that does not have import duty.

How Much Money do You Need to Retire in Greece?

Depending on the lifestyle you intend to lead, this can vary drastically. Savings will go much further if you opt to live in a less popular, rural area of Greece and live frugally.

If, however, you are able to consider living on a more expensive island and regularly eat out etc, then your costs will obviously be higher.

In the near future, we’ll be uploading an article defining the amount of money required to retire in Greece in a new article – be sure to bookmark this page to check back later!

Popular Areas in Greece For Expats

Living in areas of Greece which are highly popular with expats will cost you more overall due to the higher demand for residences and other amenities.

Consider if you would prefer an expat community, or, if you prefer to be more adventurous, aim for a more authentic Greek community in a rural, not so popular area.

Other Points to Consider if Moving to Greece

Usually, it’s not as straightforward as thinking “I want to move to Greece”, packing up your belongings, selling your own dwelling or giving notice in to your landlord and jetting off to a Greek island.

***There are various other factors you should consider. We’ve listed a few of these considerations below: ***

• Will you be selling your house before moving to Greece?; You should consider the time it may take to sell. Instead of selling, you could let to tenants, this way you won’t have to sell and if things don’t quite work out in Greece, you’ll be able to move back home.

• Will you be moving to Greece with children? Consider how they will fit in at school. Ideally, you’d need to move close to an English speaking school.

• Prior to moving, attempt to learn the basics of the Greek language – it will certainly help, considering there are many Greeks who do not speak English.

• Don’t compare the entire Greek lifestyle to what you see in the popular holiday destinations. Overall, the lifestyle is laid back, however you should ideally experience normal day-to-day life in Greece for at least a month before committing to a permanent move.

• Consider opening a Greek bank account. Many expats decide to keep their current bank accounts due to the financial situation in Greece. However, if you are intending on purchasing a residence in Greece, this will be a required step – in order to prove to the Greek government that you are purchasing property legally.

• Do you have a permanent job secured in Greece? Or is it a temporary contract? If you’re employed on a contract, ensure you have a fall-back plan if you were to be made redundant.

Conclusion to The Costs of Living in Greece

Whether you’re moving to work in Greece or are considering retirement there, we hope this article specifying the main costs of living in Greece has given you an insight into the general living costs you should expect.

Provided that you have built up a good sized nest egg, relocating to Greece could be a logical decision to make your funds go further.

Go relax and enjoy the Mediterranean lifestyle. Maybe open up a small bed and breakfast, restaurant or live off the land. A lifestyle of cheese, olives, bread and wine can’t be that bad?

Data of average item prices from Numbeo, based on 17119 entries and 1490 contributors.