By
Maria Gouma
Corporate DirectorDespina Laou has led the Private Office of Greece Sotheby’s International Realty since 2020. Under her direction the office has completed more than €290 million in sales as of October 2026, with record sales in Athens, Mykonos, Corfu, Crete, Lefkada, Skiathos, Rhodes and Paxos among them, and it has handled private island mandates on which this guide draws.
A private island acquisition is the rarest transaction in Greek property, and among the most rewarding to complete. Greece counts some six thousand islands and islets on the National Tourism Organisation’s count; 227 are inhabited, around 150 are in private hands, and a limited number of those carry the title and the clearances that allow a sale. In our experience a completed sale comes once in five years, or rarer still.
Why so few islands come to market
Most islands in private hands are legacy properties, held in one family for generations and carrying a status and an emotional value that sit outside any price. They come to market once in a generation, on a succession or a change in circumstances. “Certain owners and families care that the new owner will respect the property and its legacy as they have for decades,” Laou says.
We are regularly approached by owners of private islands, for an opinion on value or with a possible sale in mind. The initial assessment rests on a series of essential questions that establish the island’s current status: title, which often rests on nineteenth-century deeds or monastic grants to be reconciled with the Hellenic Cadastre; a forest classification; an archaeological zone, the shoreline or a 200-metre zone around a lighthouse, each excluded from any transfer under the 2014 ministerial decision that implements the law; a Natura 2000 site. Price is the other question. Owners often form a view of value from listings that circulate online at aspirational prices, far from what a transaction would bear. Comparables are few, yet an island, like any property, has a reasonable price range, and we establish it from permitted use, infrastructure, access and the scarcity premium.
One file, many authorities, one coordinated timetable
The sale of a private island engages more public authorities than any other property transaction in Greece; market experts count no fewer than 32 permits and approvals across four ministries.
- Title: the Hellenic Cadastre and the Public Property Service.
- Land use: the Forest Service, the Ministry of Environment and the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency for a Natura 2000 site.
- Heritage: the Ephorate of Antiquities on land, the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities at sea.
- Security: the Ministry of National Defence, whose approval every island acquisition in Greece requires under Article 28 of Law 1892/1990, whatever the buyer’s nationality, on the opinion of the General Staffs, the Police and the National Intelligence Service.
- The coast: the shoreline committee, the Port Authority, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Navy General Staff.
- Infrastructure: the Civil Aviation Authority for a helipad, the regional water directorate for desalination, the electricity distributor for a submarine cable, the urban planning office for every permit; a tourist use adds the Ministry of Tourism, and a project of scale needs a special spatial plan approved by presidential decree.
The purchase process can take an extended period, in several cases over a year or more. Throughout it we stay by the side of our clients, making sure that each party has a clear understanding of where matters stand and that the relationship between the two sides remains the best possible. After many years of ownership the selling side is often represented by several branches of a family, which makes our role essential in explaining the human element as much as the legal one. “Under our dual-agency mandate we act for the seller and the buyer alike, and we stay in step with every lawyer, engineer and notary on the file. Our role is to absorb the stress and clarify each exchange, so that both parties reach completion with the relationship intact,” Laou says.
Water, power and access: the prerequisites
Water, power and access by sea are the three prerequisites for living on an island, and water is the critical one. A spring worth drilling is the exception on a Greek islet, so water comes from a desalination plant, which needs electricity, its own permits and a technician within reach; from a submarine pipeline off the nearest municipal network, with a marine works licence; or from tanker deliveries into cisterns. Power follows the same logic: a submarine cable from the distributor’s network is the costliest and the most dependable answer, while solar panels, batteries and a winter generator have to be sized to the desalination unit as much as to the house. Together they fix the size of the house and a large part of the budget; an island that already has both, with their permits, commands a premium worth paying.
Access is the third prerequisite. An island has to offer direct deep-water access, for the barge that lands equipment and materials, and sea conditions that keep it reachable through most of the year. Proximity to the mainland, or to a well-served island with a harbour, is therefore essential: it sets the cost of every delivery, the reach of a pipeline or a cable, and the days a year the family can be there. “Access in winter matters as much as access in summer. An island that a barge can reach in February can be lived in and maintained all year, and we advise the buyer accordingly,” Laou says.
How the negotiation is structured
As in every transaction that depends on approvals from the authorities, the agreement is drawn to anticipate them: a notarial preliminary agreement with conditions precedent tied to each authority’s decision, a deposit scaled to the risk, long-stop dates, and an ownership structure, often a Greek company, settled at the outset with the tax adviser (see Greece’s non-dom regime). Transfer tax is 3.09% of the higher of the price and the tax-assessed value, and the nine legal steps of a standard purchase apply, as set out in the Buying Property in Greece roadmap. From first viewing to registered title, twelve to twenty-four months or more is the realistic span.
The Private Office view
“Each ministry and agency conducts its own review and each approval is obtained in turn, and the mandates we have handled show that a well-prepared file moves through them with confidence.”
Despina Laou, Head of Private Office, Greece Sotheby’s International Realty
Who buys private islands in Greece
Demand is rising and well defined. We receive more than sixty expressions of interest a year for the purchase of a private island in Greece, mainly from Family Offices, and most of them reach us through the Sotheby’s International Realty offices in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, London and Geneva. The prospective buyers are predominantly American, with British and Swiss buyers following; their median age is 62, their estimated net worth runs from €300 million to several billion, and legacy is the main reason for the purchase.
Private islands are rarely placed online. We proceed by qualifying prospective buyers and completing a full KYC (Know Your Client) file, as Greek law requires, including the identity of the ultimate beneficial owner, the provenance of funds and proof of funds. “Discretion is the first thing an owner asks of us ” Laou says. Greece Sotheby’s International Realty and the Sotheby’s International Realty affiliate network have been involved in island transactions in Greece and across the globe, and off-market opportunities of this kind are presented through the network’s Confidential programme to a very exclusive list of clients. Buyers from outside the EU and EEA will find the general border-area rule explained in Can foreigners buy property in Greece?
Private island alternatives
A private island is the ultimate trophy asset. For a buyer who prefers to act now rather than wait for a rare offering, there are other trophy properties to consider. The life an island promises is delivered by a peninsula or a private cove on an inhabited island, with title and infrastructure already in place. Paxos and Antipaxos, the north-east coast of Corfu, the headlands of Lefkada and the private bays of Kea and Mykonos offer waterfront estates with jetties, mains power and a village ten minutes away. The islands are compared in Which Greek islands are best for buying a luxury villa?, with prime and trophy price bands in the Intelligence Hub destination briefings.
The Private Office advises owners and buyers of private islands and island-like estates in the Ionian and the Aegean, from the first brief to the registered title. Whether you hold an island your family would consider parting with, or want to know within weeks whether the island you have in mind can become a home, make a private enquiry.
Frequently asked questions
Who buys private islands in Greece?
Families who have held them for generations, by private treaty through a brokerage with reach and discretion; a few come up at enforced auction.
Has Greece Sotheby’s International Realty been involved in the sale of a private island?
Yes. We have been involved in the completed sale of a private island in Greece, which remains unnamed for reasons of confidentiality, and the offices of the Sotheby’s International Realty network around the globe broker a significant number of trophy sales each year, private islands among them.
Can a foreigner buy a private island in Greece?
Yes. Every island purchase, by a buyer of any nationality, needs the approval of the Minister of National Defence; buyers from outside the EU and EEA add documents to the file.
What are the KYC and anti-money-laundering requirements?
Real estate agents are obliged entities under Law 4557/2018 (ΦΕΚ Α’ 139), which transposes Directive (EU) 2015/849, as amended by Law 4734/2020 (ΦΕΚ Α’ 196) for Directive (EU) 2018/843, for every transaction of €10,000 or more, under the supervision of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue. Before an island is presented, we identify and verify the buyer and the ultimate beneficial owner, who is also recorded in the Central Register of Beneficial Owners, establish the purpose of the acquisition and the provenance and proof of funds, and keep the file under review; the notary and the lawyers apply the same law at completion.
Can you build on a private island in Greece?
On terms set for that island by presidential decree or a special spatial plan; islands under 1,000 stremmata are limited to mild uses under the 2026 tourism framework, and water, power and sea access decide what the permits are worth.
How long does buying a private island take?
Twelve to twenty-four months or more from first viewing to registered title.
Figures as of November 2026; the forestry, archaeological, defence and environmental positions are confirmed by the buyer’s own lawyer and engineer for each island. This guide is part of our Buyer Guides series.