Buying Property in Crete - Mortgages

As with buying property in your home country, one of the things that you have to consider when buying Crete property, at the selection stage, is whether you want to borow any money in the form of a mortgage against the property.

Banks in Greece will lend you money to help with your purchase. They are happy to deal with overseas residents as earnings tend to be much higher in Northern Europe, so they feel that the risk element of lending is low. Similar to other countries mortgages fall into two categories

• variable rate
• fixed rate for a number of years

Again, similar to other countries, mortgages are available in not only euros, but also other currencies, notably Swiss Francs. There is also an option to take a holiday from payments for a period of up to two years, which can be at the front end.

Construction mortgages are also available, where the Bank will release funds to the builder/developer when construction milestones are reached.

In general Banks will lend up to five times earnings, up to 100% of the property value, for up to 40 years, up till age 75. For a specific quotation we can introduce you to the Loan Managers of local banks. Bank of Piraeus have a local branch in England who can talk with you about their offerings and give you agreement in principle up to a limit before you start your buying visit.