An increase in building activity on large projects and many obstacles for small ones, with a series of outstanding issues, have been recorded in Chania for the year 2025 to date. At the same time, as regards property sales, changes in the law and the difficulty of building outside the urban plan have put a brake on purchases from abroad, despite the fact that there is great interest.

As the president of the Association of Civil Engineers of the Nomos of Chania Giannis Vordos told Haniotika Nea, the figures for 2025 show a 15% increase in the production of concrete by comparison with last year, which is evidence of increased building activity. However, it is an activity which seems to be concentrated mainly on hotels and large building complexes.

Where housebuilding is being held up
The main issue causing problems in house construction are:
– Lack of staff: there is a great shortage of staff (both skilled workers and labourers) to support building teams. A large number of workers have been absorbed by 3-4 large hotel complexes which are currently being built, with the result that not enough staff are available. Also a large number of foreign construction and skilled workers left the country during the financial and health crises.

– Building outside the urban plan: building outside the plan has been frozen for some time for owners of smaller plots, as there are legal restrictions on building on plots of less than 4 stremmata which do not have access to a recognised road. Although the Planning Service is issuing permits, most of the projects are not proceeding as they are waiting for the relevant adjustment to the law from the Ministry.

– Building within the city: within the boundaries of the Municipality of Chania and the peri-urban municipalities, there has recently been a lack of available building plots, while the houses being sold in the Old City are few and expensive.

– Forestry maps: The process of completing the forestry maps is proceeding very much at a snail’s pace. Only one review committee has sat recently, while the Ministry has not replied to the Lawyers’ Association’s request to create 10 committees with already contracted forestry experts, as the Forestry Service in Chania is understaffed and did not acquire any staff in the latest round of hirings

However, the Municipality of Chania’s Building Service has “unfrozen” the large number of permits which had been blocked for a long period, and there is an appreciably better flow in their issue.

Property prices and buyer interest
According to information gathered by the Haniotika Nea from three agents which are active in the Nomos, prices have skyrocketed for both building plots and houses, even for those in very poor condition and in need of repair.

Foreigners who want to buy houses or land in Chania “chiefly want [them] by the sea or close to it. That’s our experience. The Europeans are usually retirees who want to buy a house in Chania, in Crete, to come and live here permanently or for a large part of the year,” one man who works as an agent told the paper.

With regard to prices, he observed that “there are many factors which determine the price of a house. The situation, the age of the building, the view, whether it has a road. Similarly the situation and the site also play a part with building plots. For example, a plot in a semi-mountainous area, inside the village boundary, can sell for €30,000 for a stremma. But if we talk about a plot on the coast, beside the sea and with a view, the cost can easily reach or exceed €200,000 per stremma, always depending on the area of course. Everything is relative here.”

It should be noted that the cost of a Golden Visa – a residence permit for citizens of non-EU countries – has increased significantly, with the result that it is now aimed at more wealthy people. And they in their turn want to buy properties in destinations such as Santorini, Mykonos, or the Elliniko development in Athens.

Interest from Israeli buyers
There is a lot of interest from Israelis. It is estimated that around 4 in 10 property buyers in the Nomos of Chania are Israeli, or companies with Israeli backers, which have shown an increased interest in Crete in the last 10 years. They are followed by Germans and the English, chiefly retirees who want to buy an old country house and do it up, as well as Scandinavians. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, interest from Russians has decreased considerably, because of the sanctions imposed on their country.
(Haniotika Nea, 27/08/25)

Crete in the national picture
Figures published by ELSTAT for the month of May and quoted in Hania.news paint a more expansive picture for Crete as a whole, which appears among the country’s leaders in new building. For that month Crete recorded 247 permits issued, an increase of 58.7% in comparison with the same month in 2024. The area represented by the new building was 50,348 sq m, an increase of 67.6% over last year, and in terms of volume (cu m) 193,340 (+66.4%). In each category, Crete showed the second largest increase over last year in the country.