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Home insurance in Greece: the complete guide

What home insurance covers, what the public figures say it costs, how the earthquake cover and its excess work, and what the bank asks for a mortgage.

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1 articles, in the order we wrote them.

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Home and propertyGuide13 September 2026 17 minutes

Short-term rental and Airbnb insurance in Greece: what it costs

A home policy does not apply when the home is let by the night, and since October 2025 the law asks for liability cover. What the home needs and what it costs.

Home and property Liability and legal protection

At a glance

In 2024 there were 1,127,979 home policies in force in Greece, with €146.9 billion insured. That is about €130,000 per home¹.
Only 0.61% of insured homes had a loss that year, and the average loss was €2,801¹.
Burst pipes were the most frequent cause: 2,044 of the 6,836 home losses. Weather came next with 1,745, theft with 934. Fire was 571 and earthquake 57¹.
The market average across all property policies is about €1.17 per €1,000 of sum insured a year, before tax¹². The premium tax is 20% on fire and 15% on the other covers³.
The law does not make home insurance compulsory. The bank does, for as long as there is a mortgage.

The point

Home insurance pays to rebuild your home and to buy your things again after a fire, an earthquake, water damage or a theft. The hard part is not the price. It is to declare the right value, to understand the earthquake excess, and to know what is not covered before you learn it on the day of the loss.

What you insure: the building, the contents, your liability

A home policy has three parts. You can take one, two or all three.

The first is the building (οικοδομή). The walls, the floor slab, the roof, the window frames, the tiles, the pipes inside the walls, the kitchen cupboard that is screwed to the wall. Whatever you do not take with you when you move. If the home is yours, this is the large sum. If you rent, it does not concern you.

The second is the contents (περιεχόμενο). Furniture, clothes, appliances, books, rugs, the computer, the bicycle in the storeroom. Whatever you would load onto a removal van. The right number is the one that comes out of your own inventory, at the price of buying each thing new⁴.

The third is your liability to others (αστική ευθύνη). Your pipe bursts and soaks the ceiling of the flat below. The fire in your kitchen blackens the flat next door. This cover pays the neighbour. Many full packages include it with a limit. The Ydrogios Best Home, for example, gives liability for fire up to 50% of the sum insured and for burst pipes up to 5% of the fire sum⁵.

The three levels of cover

Every company sells several packages. The names change, the logic does not.

The first level is fire only: fire, lightning, explosion, smoke, a falling aircraft, the impact of a vehicle. It is the minimum a bank accepts for a mortgage. In practice it is also the cover you need least often. In 2024 fire caused 571 home losses and burst pipes 2,044¹.

The second level is the full package without earthquake. It adds theft with break-in, flood, storm, hail, snow, burst pipes, glass breakage, short circuit, malicious acts, and liability to the neighbours. This is the package that covers the losses that really happen in a Greek block of flats.

The third level adds earthquake. In Greece the earthquake is a main reason to take out home insurance, even though earthquake losses are rare: 57 in 2024¹. One of them can take the whole house. It has its own terms and its own excess, often set as a percentage of the sum insured.

Above the three levels sit the extra covers. Loss of rent, or the cost of temporary housing while the home cannot be lived in. Valuables and jewellery declared one by one. Home assistance, that is a plumber and a locksmith with one phone call. Legal protection.

What it costs: what is public

No company publishes a full price table for home insurance. What is public is the market average and the sample prices some companies print.

The market average across all property policies is about €1.17 per €1,000 of sum insured a year, before tax. The comparison of this site works it out from the ΕΑΕΕ survey and the premiums of the class¹². On €155,000 of building and contents that is about €181 a year. The average covers all property policies, so your quote may differ.

This means two things for you. First, the price follows the value you declare. If you declare €200,000 instead of €130,000, the average grows by the same 54%. The value is the most important decision in the policy. Second, the excess and the limits matter more than the name of the package. Read them on the second page of the product information document (IPID).

Earthquake and its terms

The earthquake cover is usually an option with its own excess. In the Generali Alpha Safe Home the excess is 2% of the sum insured, and the cover is given only to a building with a legal permit issued after 1960⁴.

The excess is the point most people do not read. In the other covers the excess is usually a percentage of the loss or a fixed sum. In earthquake it is often a percentage of the sum insured. A home insured for €130,000 with a 2% excess has an excess of €2,600 on every loss, small or large. Cracks in the plaster after a moderate earthquake may cost less than that. So earthquake cover is cover for the large loss, not for the small one.

Water has its own terms too. AIG excludes losses to water pipes over 45 years old and drains over 25 years old, and sets a 15% excess for pipes of 41 to 45 years⁶. Generali excludes wear of pipes over 35 years old⁴.

The value you declare: rebuilding, not market

You insure what it costs to rebuild the home, not what you would sell it for. The land does not burn. The view does not fall in an earthquake. These are inside the market value and outside the rebuilding value (αξία ανακατασκευής) that the policy asks for.

One public reference point comes from the tax office. For the ENFIA discount on insured homes, the rebuilding value is set at €900 per square metre for 2024 to 2026 and €1,000 after that⁷⁸. It is a floor for the discount, not the real cost of your home. Better materials and a detached house cost more.

If you declare less than the cost of rebuilding, the proportional rule of Law 2496/1997, article 17, applies⁹. Say you declared €100,000, while the home costs €150,000 to rebuild. The kitchen burns, a loss of €15,000. You get €10,000, two thirds, because you insured two thirds. Some packages have a clause that forgives a small shortfall. They do not forgive half.

Where to go from here

A home comes in many variants: the mortgage and the bank, the earthquake, water, theft, the holiday home, the short-term let, the tenant, the block of flats, the solar panels on the roof. The article below covers the short-term let on Airbnb and similar platforms. For the market average and the prices companies print, open the comparison for home insurance.

Frequently asked questions

Is home insurance compulsory in Greece?

No, the law does not require it. The bank requires it while the home carries a mortgage. Without a loan, the decision is yours. Since 2024 the state gives a discount on ENFIA, the annual property tax, to owners who insure the home against earthquake, flood and fire, but it does not make this an obligation.

How much does insurance cost for a 95 m² flat?

There is no public price for your flat. The public figure is the market average: about €1.17 per €1,000 of sum insured a year, before tax, across all property policies, from the figures of ΕΑΕΕ, the Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies. For a building of €130,000 and contents of €25,000 that is about €181. Some companies print sample prices on their sites. Ask for quotes with your own figures.

What is the earthquake excess?

It is the part of the loss you pay yourself. For earthquake it is often worked out as a percentage of the sum insured, not of the loss. In the Generali Alpha Safe Home it is 2%. On a home insured for €130,000, a 2% excess is €2,600. If the loss is €2,000, you get nothing. If it is €30,000, you get €27,400.

Should I insure the home at its market value?

No. You insure the rebuilding value, that is what it costs to build the building again from the start. The land does not burn and does not fall down. For the ENFIA discount, the state sets the rebuilding value at €900 per square metre for 2024 to 2026 and €1,000 after that. Your own cost may be higher.

Does home insurance cover the damage from a burst pipe?

The full package does, the fire-only package does not. Burst pipes were the most frequent home loss in 2024 in the ΕΑΕΕ survey, 2,044 out of 6,836. Watch the excess and the age of the pipes. AIG, for example, excludes water pipes over 45 years old and drains over 25 years old.

What about jewellery and valuables?

Many policies exclude them or set a limit, unless you declare them. The Generali Alpha Safe Home does not insure jewellery and watches, and it caps works of art and electronics at €2,000 each. To insure valuables properly, you list them one by one in the policy, with a value and a photo.

Does the home policy cover solar panels on the roof?

Often not, or only for fire. The panels are equipment on the outside of the building, and many policies cover outside objects with their own limit. They need a separate declaration or a separate policy. Ask before you rely on it.

How quickly must I report a loss?

Law 2496/1997, article 7, gives eight days from the moment you learned of the loss. Policies often ask for even sooner. Phone the same day, take photos before you clean up, and keep the damaged items until the loss adjuster has seen them.

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