Greek Real Estate Market – Building Regulation: Chaotic Interventions by the Ministry of Environment and Energy (YPEN) and Uncertainty in the Construction Sector
Almost two years after the onset of the crisis in the construction sector, the government still fails to offer a substantial and definitive solution. The inability to ensure legal certainty, equal treatment, and a stable legislative framework has deprived a highly promising market—namely, the Greek real estate and construction sector—of the necessary conditions for growth.
In May 2025, the Ministry of Environment and Energy (YPEN) submitted an enabling legislative provision to Parliament aimed at reforming the New Building Regulation (NOK), in compliance with annulment decisions by the Council of State (CoS). The provision includes the issuance of two Presidential Decrees—one to define the building permits that are permanently annulled, and another for those retaining building incentives—as well as four ministerial decisions on critical fiscal, urban planning, administrative, and technical matters.
However, without prior approval from the CoS for these decrees, YPEN unilaterally designated June 16, 2025, as the final date for the submission of joint requests by developers and property owners to the Central Council of Urban Planning (KESYPOHA) and the Central Architecture Council (KESA), for the re-evaluation of building permits based on technical, social, economic, and legal criteria. This deadline, which has already passed, is effectively negated by a new corrective regulation for extensions, also submitted to Parliament.
The ad hoc and fragmented handling of such a critical issue has driven the construction sector into a complete impasse. The annulment rulings by the CoS in January 2025 exposed serious flaws in the NOK and underscored the need for clear, fair, and enforceable solutions. Nevertheless, YPEN continues to implement institutionally unstable measures, with timelines and procedures lacking legal and practical justification.
A striking example of the lack of strategic planning is that only on June 2, 2025—two weeks after Law 5197/2025 was published—did the first draft Presidential Decree reach the CoS. This decree defines what constitutes the commencement of construction work and introduces the Special Environmental Offset Plan for Urban Upgrading (ESPIAP), as a mechanism to offset the building incentives of the NOK.
However, the initial deadline for submitting applications regarding environmental offsetting expired before the process was even meaningfully implemented. The new regulation extending deadlines seeks, retroactively, to address a process that remains effectively inactive.
Moreover, YPEN’s inadequate understanding of the NOK articles and permitting procedures has led to distorted and unfair legislative interventions. For example, according to the latest regulation, the demolition of existing buildings on the same plot is considered proof of commencement of works—and therefore the establishment of the right to use NOK incentives—only if it took place within six months prior to December 11, 2024. This date was established by the CoS as a benchmark for the legality of building permits.
Excluding property owners who demolished their homes with the clear intent to build new ones—based on the regulations in effect at the time and with explicit reference to Article 10 on withdrawal in the technical report accompanying the demolition permit—is incomprehensible and unjust. The technically and legally unsupported six-month time condition leaves good-faith citizens unprotected. The state has an obligation to protect its citizens—not to harm them by destroying their property and treating them unfairly.
And this is not an isolated case. Similar problems arise in many other categories of buildings and owners now excluded from the new regulations, despite having invested based on NOK provisions—whether in land purchases, permit issuances, or building exchange agreements. The result is a growing sense of injustice and uncertainty.
The general conclusion is clear: YPEN’s planning suffers from serious gaps, with no sign of a comprehensive, technically sound, and legally solid framework. The engineering community is now openly expressing its concern. Legal insecurity and institutional ambiguity have entirely disrupted construction activity.
The annulment decisions of January were just the beginning. Dozens more cases are expected to be heard by the CoS, which will rule on the constitutionality of other core NOK provisions. At this point, the country is effectively without a functional Building Regulation. Engineers are unable to prepare studies, urban planning departments are not issuing new permits, and according to the latest data from ELSTAT and the market, new permits have dropped by over 80% in certain municipalities in the first half of 2025.
The institutional vacuum now created requires immediate, serious, and collective intervention. The 2012 NOK has been overtaken by legal and urban planning realities. The drafting of a new Building Regulation is urgently needed—one that is modern, clear, environmentally sustainable, and legally robust.
The consequences are already visible: contractors and concrete companies report a sharp decline in work volume, while the domino effect of lost activity impacts all related professions—from planning to completion.
The government must act immediately. A committee must be formed with participation from Local Government, the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), the CoS, professional associations, and engineers, with the goal of shaping a stable, functional, and socially fair institutional framework.
Reforming the Building Regulation is not merely a technical necessity. It is a matter of the rule of law, urban planning logic, and sustainable urban development. Only with seriousness, responsibility, and institutional continuity can the country design and implement the cities of the future.
Analysis by
Kosta Kioleoglou, REV, is a Civil Engineer (NTUA), MEng in Structural Engineering (NTUA), MSc in Real Estate Investment and Finance (Heriot Watt University), Recognised Expert Property Valuer & European.
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