Cyprus

• A citizen of the European Union buys without restrictions.
• A citizen of another country buys in their own name with permission from the Council of Ministers. The limit is up to two properties or one plot of up to 4,000 sq m. Commercial property: a shop of up to 100 sq m or an office of up to 250 sq m, and only together with a home.
• One rule for the whole country. It does not distinguish between districts and resorts; in Paphos, according to our records, the paperwork takes longer.
• Buying off-plan is possible: payments in stages, with the contract registered at the land department.
• Title documents. In Cyprus there are many properties where the contract is registered but a separate title deed has not yet been issued. The local press wrote of about 9,500 such contracts. Before buying, it is checked whether the deed has been issued for the specific property.

Bills tightening purchase for citizens of countries outside the European Union are before parliament; at the date of this review none has been adopted.

Buying a completed home:

The fee is paid by the buyer. On the resale market the agent is usually paid by the seller.

Buying from a developer:

• 19% VAT on the price. The transfer fee is not charged in this case.
• The reduced rate of 5% applies only to one's own main home of up to 130 sq m, and such a home cannot be let. An investor buying to let should count on 19%.

Holding:

• The state property tax has been abolished since 2017.
• Municipal charges remain; their size is not yet confirmed by us.

Sale:

• Capital gains tax is 20% of the profit, and non-residents pay it too.
• Length of ownership does not exempt from the tax. There is a lifetime allowance: €30k general and €150k for a main home in which the owner has lived for at least five years.

• Long-term is without restrictions for owners from any country.
• Short-term only with registration at the tourism authority; the registration number is shown in the listing. For Limassol our base records a fine of up to €5k for letting without registration.
• Rental yield in Nicosia as stated on listing pages: about 4% a year for a two-bedroom apartment (the Engomi and Aglantzia districts). This is the portal's estimate, not official data.

Tax on rent, scale from 2026:

20% is deducted from rent without documents, as well as interest on a loan for the property. On top of the tax on rent, a contribution to the health system of 2.65% is paid. A non-resident pays on the same scale on Cypriot income.

Sources differ on the thresholds of the 2026 scale; the version given here is the one that matched in two audit firms. The pages of the Cyprus tax authority could not be opened by us.

This is tax in Cyprus. Tax in the investor's country of residence is calculated separately.

• Citizenship for investment is abolished: applications were accepted until 30 October 2020, and the law was repealed in December 2025.
• Permanent residence: investment from €300k and a confirmed income from €50k a year. The holder of such a residence permit may let the purchased property.

Q1 2015 - Q1 2026, housing in the country as a whole:

What this means:

• Until 2021 prices in euros were almost flat: +8% over six years. Growth began in 2022 and continues to this day, at 4.5% to 8% a year.
• For a buyer with dollars the picture is different: until the end of 2022 housing was getting cheaper in real dollars, with a low of 80 in summer 2022. It rose above the 2015 level only in 2025.
• Prices are now at an eleven-year high in all four rows.
• In the same units: Dubai for 2020-2025 is +5.4% a year in real dollars, Turkey over eleven years +0.9%, Cyprus +0.6%, Thailand -0.3%.

A caveat: the index is for the country as a whole. Limassol and Paphos may have behaved differently; we do not yet have separate series for cities.

The directory has 81 districts: Paphos 27, Larnaca 22, Limassol 14, Nicosia 11, Ayia Napa and surroundings 7. All are drawn from the pages of agencies, portals and directories.

Prices read from pages (asking prices, not deal prices):

What can be seen:

• Limassol is the most expensive market on the island: coastal districts cost roughly twice as much as inland villages.
• Paphos is cheaper and relies on foreign buyers; the further from the sea, the lower the price.
• Nicosia is a market for local demand: apartments from €200k, rental yield about 4%.
• For Larnaca and Ayia Napa there are no prices on the pages read so far.

The directory has 10 developers: Leptos Estates, Pafilia, Aristo Developers, Cybarco, Korantina Homes, Cyfield Group, Imperio Properties, Quality Group, Domenica Group, P.L. Property Gallery.

Listings: Bazaraki, INDEX.cy, BuySell Cyprus, Dom.com.cy, Spitogatos. Auctions: the bank platforms Altamira and ACB.

What a foreigner may buy. A citizen of the European Union buys freely. A citizen of another country needs permission under the law on the purchase of property by foreigners (Chapter 109), arranged through the district administration. A shop of up to 100 sq m can be bought only together with a home. For an office a limit of 250 sq m is cited, but it appears only in short excerpts of search results, and the law firm page on which the shop rule rests was written in 2014. The procedure should therefore be checked with the district administration. Our records show no requirement to set up a company or obtain a licence.

How it differs from housing.

• The permission, the way the transfer fee is paid (on the scale of 3%, 5% and 8% with a 50% reduction) and the 20% capital gains tax on sale are the same as for housing.
• If VAT is charged on the purchase, as on new commercial property, the transfer fee is not charged; a certificate from the tax authority is needed. For secondary property without VAT the usual scale applies. The VAT rate on buying a commercial property is not yet stated in our records.
• VAT on rent for a tenant who is a VAT payer is 19%. This is from a law firm page; we will provide official confirmation on request. Sources differ: one firm writes that the landlord may charge VAT by choice, another that from 2026 the landlord can opt out of VAT by notifying the tax authority within 30 days. The choice for a property is irreversible.
• The tax on income from commercial rent, the annual tax and the usual lease term are not yet available in our records.

Hotels and aparthotels. Our records contain no separate rules or warnings about hotel rooms and serviced apartments sold as an investment. All that is known is that hotels are named among the properties that count towards a residence permit, and that hotel apartments are marked in the directory in Ayia Napa and Kato Paphos.

Residence permit. Buying commercial property (shops, offices, hotels) for €300k counts towards permanent residence. This is from a consulting company page: the official page could not be opened, so the amount plus VAT and the income conditions are available to confirm on request.

Rent by city. Average asking rent, euros per sq m per month, listings as of January 2025 (Landbank Analytics as reported by the business newspaper CBN). These are asking prices, not deal prices.

Agency figures describe the upper part of the market, not what a private investor usually buys.

Where it is concentrated. The directory marks three places: Mouttagiaka east of Limassol (apartments, villas, offices), Ayia Napa and Kato Paphos (apartments and hotel apartments). For Nicosia and Limassol we have only rent levels.

Not yet available, and provided on request: yields and vacancy shares, prices of small properties, mortgages for commercial property, tax on commercial rent, contract terms and the VAT rate on purchase.