Chinese buyers have come to Greece in droves, but not as tourists. Greek Reporter revealed that these Chinese have been coming for the last two years to stay, buying up Greek real estate and giving the Greek 'real estate boom' a new lease on life over and over again.

This was revealed by Carrie Law, CEO of Juwai.com, a web portal used by Chinese buyers to search for international property to invest in. These investors have been monitoring and have taken advantage of the Greek "Golden Visa Scheme," where non-E.U. expatriates are allowed to own property and gain residence on Greek soil. The trade-off only requires them to invest €250,000 (US$284,000) in real property.

In Reuters' report, the Chinese interest in an E.U. residency permit and owning an investment overseas have driven the Greek economy. Largely on the decline in the past years after the debt crisis in 2009, this marks the first time anything of significance happened to it. Prices are still down by about 40 percent from their peak, but it has all been a positive ride for the Greeks who stand to benefit from Chinese interest.

In a look at how this impacts residents, a citizen is only known as 'Vassilis' put up his property for sale, losing hope last year when no one seemed interested in buying it for the price. True enough, a Chinese family of four visited his property and took a look around. After a day, he received an offer from the said family at around €220,000.

Lefteris Potamianos of the Real Estate Association of Athens echoes the same sentiments. He shared how there are more phone calls now than before, with an overwhelming majority being Chinese interested in owning overseas real estate. There had been a few locals here and there, but the majority of it is Chinese.

Carrie Law said that Greek property inquiries have jumped up four times higher than it was during the same period last year. It was much higher in the third quarter this year, where the Chinese inquired about available real estate to the tune of 137.5 percent.

With Chinese interest being what it is, many Greek real estate agencies have tried to attract the attention of the buyers. MD Homes LTD, for one, became one of the twenty world's best in Chinese-focused real estate marketers. Despite efforts by the government to recall some of the money being pushed outwards by Chinese buyers, it seems that foreign Chinese investments will only continue.