According to data from STAMA Greece, many of these properties, which have been renovated in recent years specifically to accommodate visitors, are being excluded from the market due to the requirement that they must be designated as primary residences or have been legalized before the end of July 2011 (note that there is no possibility of legalizing properties built after July 27, 2011), in accordance with the provisions of the Ministry of Tourism’s law.
In a presentation to journalists, STAMA Greece representatives—Stathis Karopoulos, Dimitris Missas, Paschalis Karagiannis, and Stamatis Papoutsis—argued, among other points, that the draft law is tailored to favor hotels, especially those in the two- and three-star categories, which view short-term rental accommodations as competition. They did not rule out the possibility of appealing to the Council of State (CoS).
“If these apartments are excluded from the market due to the new law's requirements and specifications, they won’t be absorbed into the long-term rental market, as has been suggested at times. Instead, they will likely be abandoned, as they are unsuitable for long-term living,” argued Stathis Karopoulos, Director of STAMA Greece, which represents around 260 companies managing approximately 7,500 properties across Greece.
These property managers are mostly young Greeks, aged between 35 and 55, and manage about 30% of the country’s short-term rental properties (apartments, villas, and even small hotels), compared to the 70% of properties where the owners themselves manage the rentals.
Regarding the new legislation, Mr. Karopoulos pointed out that, while the law will come into effect once it is passed, the required checks to determine whether a property is eligible for short-term rental may not be conducted swiftly. Mixed inspection teams from the Ministry of Tourism and the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) will carry out on-site checks at the thousands of properties available for short-term rental, following a 10-day prior notice. Failure to comply with the law’s requirements could result in an administrative fine of €5,000, among other penalties, for instances of refusal of entry or non-compliance with the specifications.
“The landscape in this sector, for which three different draft laws have been proposed in a single year, is completely changing,” noted Mr. Karopoulos, recalling that an appeal has already been filed with the CoS regarding the business tax imposed on properties available through platforms like AirBnB. This business tax is essentially imposed separately on each property not located within the same building, deeming it a branch. The tax amounts to €600 per branch. Thus, someone with 50 short-term rental properties in different buildings would pay €30,000 just in business taxes. "Imposing a business tax on each property means our companies will be on the brink of financial ruin, as it will be impossible to meet such large obligations," he said, adding that he cannot understand how a property could be classified as a branch when it is prohibited from offering any services other than the provision of bedding.
According to STAMA representatives—Stathis Karopoulos, Dimitris Missas, Paschalis Karagiannis, and Stamatis Papoutsis—the Ministry of Tourism has never met with them for discussions, despite their repeated attempts to communicate their positions, unlike the Ministry of Finance, whose representatives both listened to and met with them. They stated that the Ministry of Tourism presented the bill as a fait accompli, without prior consultation with representatives of the short-term rental market. "The paper was created without us," as they put it, aside from their participation in the formal online consultation process. They also added that property owners renting through platforms like AirBnB paid taxes exceeding €800 million for their 2023 income (a figure expected to surpass €1 billion for this year), with a tax compliance rate of 92%.
The AirBnB Market in Thessaloniki
In response to specific questions about the short-term rental market in Thessaloniki, Mr. Karopoulos clarified that there are 5,300 properties listed on the platform in the city, of which around 3,500 are active (meaning they accept bookings). Around 600 of these are located in the city center (from Katsimidi to Vardar Square). The average number of overnight stays in Thessaloniki is around 2.6 to 2.8 per month, compared to 3.4 in Athens (where there are 9,500-10,000 active properties in the municipality of Athens). The prices for AirBnB properties in central Thessaloniki average €58-60 per night, compared to €100 in Athens. Short-term rental properties in Thessaloniki are mostly chosen by families, with 65% of tenants being Greek, while the remaining share consists of Balkan visitors.
Overall, there are 140,000 properties listed for short-term rental in Greece, with AirBnB accounting for approximately 25% of the country’s hospitality market. When asked to comment on reports of increased undeclared work in short-term rental properties, such as in cleaning services, STAMA representatives responded that when managing properties in multiple locations, outsourcing these services (to specialized companies, for example) is inevitable, meaning undeclared labor cannot exist.
