When King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands purchased a sprawling mansion in Ekali, a leafy, gated enclave of Athens’ northern suburbs, for an estimated €15 million, it reignited discussion about the steep tax pressures facing owners of large properties in Greece.
The mansion, brokered through Sotheby’s, is a 1,489-square-meter residence set on a 5,535-square-meter plot. Built in the early 1990s, it includes an additional 904 square meters of auxiliary spaces—garages, storage rooms, and a private security facility—and even allows for 700 more square meters of potential construction. Once belonging to a family of wealthy merchants who represented a famous dutch dairy brand that produces among other “Nounou” products in Greece, the property has long been viewed by real estate agents as one of the crown jewels of the athenian luxury market.
This is not the Dutch royals’ first investment in Greek real estate. In 2012, amid Greece’s financial crisis, they purchased a seaside estate in Doroufi, near Porto Heli in the Peloponnese, for roughly €4.5 million—a move that drew sharp criticism in the Netherlands. That property includes three villas totaling 4,000 square meters and even a private dock overlooking the island of Spetses.
Now, over a decade later, the couple has spent three times that amount on what locals call “the diamond of Ekali.” Ironically, the previous owners—elderly heirs of the original family—reportedly sold the property hastily for “purely tax reasons.”
The hidden cost of owning a Greek mansion
The sale sheds light on a long-standing problem: the high tax burden on luxury properties in Greece’s elite neighborhoods such as Ekali, Psychiko, Kolonaki, and Glyfada. Since 2010, when the country’s first bailout program introduced “imputed income” rules for property owners, residents of high-value areas have faced steep annual taxes—even when their actual income does not match the presumed cost of living in such homes.
Under the system introduced by then–Finance Minister Georgios Papakonstantinou, properties in areas with “objective values” (the government’s official property price per square meter) above €2,799 face surcharges of up to 70 percent on their presumed living costs. For large estates—say, a 400-square-meter home in a high-value zone—the imputed taxable income can exceed €100,000 per year, resulting in enormous tax bills.
The policy aimed to target undeclared wealth but also caught in its net many long-time property owners whose fortunes declined during Greece’s decade-long crisis. For some, a once-affordable dream home turned into an unsustainable financial liability.
From mansions to “closed rooms”
Over the years, many affluent Greeks have resorted to creative tax maneuvers to ease the burden. Some subdivided large estates among family members, while others officially declared sections of their homes “closed” or unused to reduce taxable square footage. Despite these efforts, the heavy taxation, combined with maintenance costs and low liquidity in the luxury market, caused prices in areas like Ekali to stagnate or fall.
Today, even as Greece’s broader property market rebounds, Ekali’s luxury homes remain relatively undervalued, with average sale prices around €3,000 per square meter. In contrast, the southern suburb of Glyfada has seen prices soar to €6,500 per square meter, while the coveted seaside district of Vouliagmeni now exceeds €10,000.
A royal statement amid uneven recovery
For the Dutch royal family, the Ekali mansion offers privacy and proximity to Athens without the coastal bustle of the Greek Riviera. But their high-profile acquisition also serves as a reminder of the unique pressures—and paradoxes—of Greece’s property market: where world-class villas coexist with a tax regime that can make owning them a financial ordeal.
