Property for sale in Mathraki

The island

Mathraki is the smallest and southernmost of the three Diapontia islands: about three square kilometres of low ridge under dense green cover, nowhere much above 150 metres, a few nautical miles off the north-west coast of Corfu. Boats come in at Plakes, a small harbour on the east side; Portelo, a long sandy beach, is the best known of its beaches. The 174 residents live in small settlements at the north and south of the island, and many islanders have emigrated to the United States. Tourism is slight — rooms to let and tavernas that double as shops. The island has a state clinic; hospital care means Corfu.

Where people buy

Property on Mathraki includes village houses and plots, some of them in need of work, and a sale may not be advertised at all. Outside the village limits a plot generally needs 4,000 m² and 25 metres of frontage on a public road to be buildable, and the island lies within the Natura 2000 bird protection area of the Diapontia; have your engineer check both before you make an offer. Ask, too, how a house gets its water and power, and how both hold up in August.

Mathraki is a border area under Greek law. Buyers from outside the EU and EFTA need a permit from the border-areas committee of the Decentralised Administration before signing, and a sale made without one is void. Greek, EU and EFTA citizens are not affected.

Asking prices

Asking prices are shown on each listing; ask for an independent valuation before you make an offer.

Getting there

Fly to Corfu (CFU). The year-round ferry from Corfu port calls at Ereikoussa first and reaches Mathraki in about three hours and twenty minutes; it sails a few days a week and carries cars. From Agios Stefanos Avliotes on Corfu's north-west coast the crossing takes about 45 minutes, on boats that run several times a week, on timetables that change.

Golden Visa

Mathraki has 174 inhabitants at the 2021 census and, on an island-by-island reading, is in the €400,000 zone for the Greek Golden Visa, unlike Corfu itself. Administratively the island belongs to the municipality of Corfu, and we are not aware of an official ruling on how the 3,100-inhabitant test applies to it; ask your lawyer to confirm the classification in writing before you rely on €400,000. Every Golden Visa applicant is a non-EU buyer, so the border-area permit comes first.