Hellenic Cadastre nears completion after decades of implementation

The Hellenic Cadastre is a national infrastructure that has been implemented gradually over three decades through successive phases, different funding instruments, and continuous institutional, legislative, and technical adaptations. It was essentially created from the ground up, involving the registration of tens of millions of property rights, the development of unified cadastral mapping and information systems, and the management of complex ownership regimes across the entire territory.

The current state of the project differs substantially from the past, with a clear acceleration and measurable results, as also reflected in the report of the Hellenic Court of Audit, which notes that “significant progress has been achieved over the last decade.”

This evolution reflects the transition of the project from a prolonged period of stagnation to a phase of systematic completion. The report also highlights inherent structural challenges, including incomplete recording of public property, fragmented ownership structures, widespread absence of property titles, lack of comprehensive forest maps, and the complexity of integrating legal and geospatial data.

Current progress of the project:

• 27,850,000 rights (over 71%) are already registered in the operational Cadastre
• 10,820,000 rights (almost 28%) are in the posting phase
• 100% nationwide digital cadastre expected by the end of 2026
• 600,000,000 pages have been digitised
• 310,000 registrable acts processed using AI
• Over 1,000,000 digital transactions to date, of which 560,000 were submitted in 2025 and 185,000 so far in 2026
• 12 new digital services developed since 2021

These digital services are now widely used on a daily basis by professionals, citizens, and public administration officials involved in cadastre-related processes.

The transition from paper-based to digital Cadastre

The Cadastre is entering a new digital era.

This transition is not without challenges, as it involves harmonising decades of technologies, applications, and datasets and migrating them to cloud infrastructure, which promises speed, stability, availability, and security. This migration is expected to be completed by June 2026.

The development of electronic services has already transformed the Cadastre’s operations, enhancing transaction speed and transparency. Key digital services include:

• Electronic submission of registrable acts for professionals, citizens, and public administration
• Remote access to cadastral databases by professionals and public authorities
• Akinita.gov.gr for notaries’ electronic submission of acts
• Myktima for citizens to access their property records
• archive.ktimatologio.gr for searching digitised archives of former land registry offices
• enexyra.ktimatologio.gr, the Unified Electronic Register of Pledges
• 12n.ktimatologio.gr for the digital filing of acts under the Dodecanese Cadastre Regulations
• maps.gov.gr, the unified national digital map portal
• maps.ktimatologio.gr, mapping property ownership alongside cadastral and urban planning data
• eisigites.ktimatologio.gr for electronic legal review and registration of acts
• support.ktimatologio.gr for submitting queries and requests

These services are increasingly used by professionals and citizens, reducing the need for physical presence and significantly accelerating procedures.

The digitisation of the archives of 390 land registry offices is nearing completion, involving 600,000,000 pages (transcriptions, mortgages, seizures, claims, and indexes), which are being made available online through archive.ktimatologio.gr. This represents the first complete digital record of the mortgage and transcription system.

Is there an issue of legal certainty?

The answer is provided by the Court of Audit itself, which states that the operation of the National Cadastre entails multiple benefits: legal certainty and clarity of property rights, reduction of legal disputes, lower time and cost of property transactions, facilitation of spatial and urban planning, recording and protection of public property from encroachments and facilitation of its utilisation, attraction of investments, acceleration of expropriation procedures, protection of the natural environment through the mapping of forests, wetlands, protected areas and ecosystems, and protection of cultural heritage through the recording of archaeological sites. It is therefore rightly described as a “fundamental tool for the rational organisation and development of the country.”

Is the Cadastre delayed?

The report also notes a large number of pending cases in specific cadastral offices. Despite inherited backlogs from former land registry offices integrated into the agency as of 1/1/2025, and the continuous inflow of new applications, processing rates have improved significantly.

Indicatively:

• 2024: 251,000 cases completed
• 2025: 650,000 cases completed (more than double the previous year)
• Q1 2026: 247,000 cases already processed

In major offices such as Athens and Thessaloniki, backlogs have been reduced by 80% and 90% respectively. March 2026 marked a record, with 79,200 cases and certificates completed nationwide.

Artificial intelligence-based legal review has also played an important role in accelerating processing, as highlighted in the report.

Despite remaining backlogs and the need for further acceleration in certain procedures, the overall picture of the project has changed substantially. For the first time, the completion of a decades-long reform appears clearly within reach, supported by measurable progress, extensive digitisation, and enhanced functionality serving both citizens and the economy.

The Hellenic Cadastre continues to prioritise the completion of cadastral mapping, the reduction of pending cases, and the full deployment of digital services, strengthening a critical national infrastructure for the country.