Cyprus Building Permits: CYSTAT Data to June 2026 and Rules

Cyprus Building Permits: CYSTAT Data to June 2026 and Rules

This reference was checked on 29 October 2026. It sets out Cyprus building permits as the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) publishes them, with the latest monthly release covering June 2026 (published 5 October 2026), and places the numbers next to the legal and administrative framework for permits, the construction price indices, completions and housing-supply context. Every figure below carries its source, release date and series definition.

The reader will find the permit counts, values, floor areas and planned dwelling units for 2019 to June 2026, the district and building-type breakdowns, how a permit differs from a construction start and a completion, what the named employer and contractor bodies have said about labour and procedures, and a worked section that recomputes every percentage in the earlier version of this page from the primary tables. CYSTAT’s calendar lists the July 2026 permit release for 13 November 2026, so the figures here stand until then.

Cyprus Building Permits: What CYSTAT Counts and When It Publishes

CYSTAT’s monthly press release on building permits counts permits authorised in the month and reports, for each type of project, the number of permits, the authorised floor area in square metres, the value in thousands of euros and, for residential buildings, the number of dwelling units that the permits provide for. The project types are residential buildings, non-residential buildings, civil engineering projects, division of plots and road construction. CYSTAT states that it uses the EU Classification of Types of Construction to categorise projects (CYSTAT, Building Permits: June 2026, 5 October 2026).

The same release sets out what is inside and outside the count. The data cover all building permits authorised, including permits for demolitions and permits that are re-issued. Permit renewals and permits for the division of buildings are not included. CYSTAT also notes that its Predefined Tables in Excel stop at December 2022 and that data from January 2023 onward are available only in the CYSTAT-DB online database, which is the source of the monthly, annual and district series used in this page.

The authority that issues the permits changed during the period covered. CYSTAT states that from 1 July 2024 the authority to issue building permits moved from the municipalities and district administration offices to the newly founded Local Government Organisations (LGOs), and that applications are processed electronically in the integrated system called Ippodamos, including a large volume of older applications that had been submitted on paper. In its December 2024 and December 2025 releases the Statistical Service adds that the first months of the reform were accompanied by technical and procedural weaknesses and delays that affected the timely and accurate production of statistics (CYSTAT, December 2024 release, 14 April 2025; CYSTAT, December 2025 release, 7 April 2026). That context matters when comparing 2024, 2025 and 2026, and it is the reason the monthly series is set out in full below.

The monthly permit releases published in 2026 are listed here with their release dates, taken from the individual press releases. The month counts are CYSTAT’s figures for the month named; the cumulative year-on-year change is the change that each release reported for January to the month named.

The narrowing of the cumulative change from +76.9% to +29.5% is arithmetic rather than a reversal: the 2025 base months are larger from the spring onward (446 permits in January 2025, 635 in June 2025), so each additional month adds a smaller proportional gap. The monthly counts themselves stayed between 639 and 789 throughout 2026.

Cyprus Building Permits, January to June 2026: Headline Figures

According to CYSTAT’s June 2026 release, 751 permits were authorised in June 2026, 18.3% more than in June 2025, with a total value of €469.5 million and a total area of 394.7 thousand square metres. They provide for 2,122 dwelling units. For January to June 2026, CYSTAT reports 4,401 permits against 3,399 in the same period of 2025 (+29.5%), a total value up 48.2%, a total area up 47.1% and dwelling units up 67.8% (CYSTAT, 5 October 2026). The table shows the type-of-project split of those 4,401 permits, with the percentage change recomputed from the counts.

Residential buildings account for 3,227 of the 4,401 permits, which is 73.3%, and €2,212.6 million of the €2,568.9 million total value, or 86.1%. Non-residential buildings moved the other way: permits rose from 365 to 406 while the authorised area fell from 271,621 to 175,897 square metres (−35.2%) and the value from €318.1 million to €226.3 million (−28.9%). Division of plots (423 against 248) and road construction (95 against 47) are small counts, so the large percentage changes of +70.6% and +102.1% rest on a few dozen permits.

The floor-area column is reported by CYSTAT for residential buildings, non-residential buildings and civil engineering projects only. In the same release the authorised floor area for January to June was 2,097,440 square metres in 2026 against 1,426,297 in 2025, and for residential buildings 1,903,180 against 1,148,186 (+65.8%). Dividing the residential value by the residential area gives €1163 per authorised square metre in 2026 and €1161 in 2025. This is a ratio of two CYSTAT totals as stated on the permit, and it is not a market price.

Dwelling Units Provided for by Permits, by Building Type

CYSTAT counts the dwelling units that residential permits provide for, which is the figure the earlier version of this page described as planned residential units. The June 2026 release breaks the January to June total of 11,100 units into four building types.

Apartment blocks, residential and mixed residential/commercial together, provide for 8,669 of the 11,100 units (78.1%), against 4,391 of 6,616 (66.4%) in the same months of 2025. Single houses changed by only +4.2%. The mixed residential/commercial category went from 164 to 837 units, and in June 2026 alone it accounted for 542 units, so one month can move that line sharply. For a unit-level reading of how that composition relates to prices and sales, the site’s Cyprus real estate market statistics page covers transaction data, which is a separate series from permits.

The annual figures by building type show how the mix changed over four years. In 2022 residential apartment blocks provided for 5,341 of 9,842 units; in 2025 they provided for 10,791 of 16,171 (CYSTAT-DB annual series, last updated 7 April 2026, consistent with the December 2025 release).

Monthly Permit Series, 2024 to June 2026

The CYSTAT-DB monthly table (updated 5 October 2026) allows the same calendar months to be compared across three years. The first table gives the permit counts and the second the dwelling units they provide for. January 2024 to June 2024 were authorised under the earlier municipal and district system until 30 June 2024; from 1 July 2024 the LGOs issue permits.

Two features of the series are visible in the numbers. First, June 2024 shows 1,528 permits and July 2024 shows 97, the months either side of the 1 July 2024 transfer of authority; the 2024 months before June ran between 583 and 709 permits. CYSTAT states the transfer date and the early difficulties with Ippodamos but does not attribute the size of those two monthly counts to any cause, and this page does not either. Second, because June 2024 is large, the January to June comparison depends on the base year chosen: 4,401 permits in January to June 2026 is +29.5% against 2025 but −8.0% against 2024, while dwelling units are +67.8% against 2025 and +45.7% against 2024. Using January to May, which excludes the June 2024 count, permits are +12.2% against 2024 and +32.1% against 2025.

The 2025 half-year base was itself lower than the 2024 half-year: 3,399 permits in January to June 2025 against 4,782 in January to June 2024 is −28.9%. A growth rate therefore says as much about the comparison period as about the current period, and the full-year series in the next section gives the longer view.

Cyprus Building Permits by Year, 2019 to 2025

CYSTAT’s annual building-permit table (CYSTAT-DB, updated 7 April 2026) and the Construction and Housing summary table (updated 22 July 2026) give the series below. The number of permits peaked at 8,164 in 2021 in this window, fell to 6,827 in 2024 and reached 8,159 in 2025. Dwelling units provided for by permits were 9,627 in 2019 and 16,171 in 2025.

The annual releases state the same changes. For 2023, CYSTAT reported 7,170 permits against 7,604 in 2022 (−5.7%), with value up 16.4%, area up 4.3% and dwelling units up 12.2% (CYSTAT, December 2023 release, 11 March 2024). For 2024 it reported 6,827 permits (−4.8%), area up 1.2%, value unchanged and dwelling units up 2.6% (CYSTAT, 14 April 2025). For 2025 it reported 8,159 permits (+19.5%), value up 37.8%, area up 41.0% and dwelling units up 42.7% (CYSTAT, 7 April 2026).

Measured against this series, the 2023 decline in permit counts (−5.7% for the year) was followed by a second decline in 2024 and a rise in 2025, so the rise in 2025 and the first half of 2026 follows two years of lower counts rather than a single year. The permit count in 2025 (8,159) is close to the 2021 count (8,164), while the dwelling units provided for in 2025 (16,171) are +53.9% above 2021 (10,506). The permit value in 2025 (€4.01 billion) is +7.5% against 2019 (€3.73 billion) in nominal euros.

Cyprus Building Permits by District

CYSTAT-DB publishes permits by district. The annual table below lists the five districts as CYSTAT names them; the Famagusta (Ammochostos) row is the district’s CYSTAT series.

In 2025 Nicosia recorded 3,170 permits against 2,141 in 2024 (+48.1%) and 5,374 dwelling units against 3,113. Larnaca recorded 3,778 units against 2,484 (+52.1%). Limassol’s permit count was 2,031 against 2,112 (−3.8%), but its dwelling units rose from 3,952 to 4,745 (+20.1%) and its authorised area from 806,099 to 1,088,171 square metres. Paphos recorded 938 permits against 896 and 1,729 units against 1,184.

The half-year district figures for 2026, from the monthly district table updated on 5 October 2026, are given next. The cumulative columns are CYSTAT’s January-to-June totals for each district.

Limassol’s 3,527 units and Larnaca’s 3,277 units together are 61.3% of the January-to-June total, Nicosia’s 3,029 is 27.3% and Paphos’s 1,067 is 9.6%. The Larnaca count of units moved from 1,224 to 3,277, which is 2.7 times the earlier figure, while its permit count changed by +24.1%; the gap between a modest rise in permits and a large rise in units means the units provided for per permit changed between the two periods. District pages on this site cover Limassol, Paphos and Nicosia, and the Southern Cyprus country page lists the listings by district.

Completions, Dwelling Stock and Construction Costs

Permits are an authorisation; CYSTAT’s annual Construction and Housing table is the source for completed dwellings. The table gives new dwellings completed as a number per year, the dwelling stock in thousands, the average area per new dwelling and the average cost per square metre of new dwellings completed in the private sector, and it was last updated on 22 July 2026 (CYSTAT, Construction and Housing 1995–2025). Its latest completions entry is for 2024. The dwelling-stock series carries CYSTAT’s note of a break after revisions based on the 2021 Census of Population and Housing.

The last column of the ratio is a same-year comparison and not a conversion rate, because a permit authorised in one year is generally completed in a later year. Summing six years avoids the timing issue partly: units permitted in 2019 to 2024 total 61,637, and new dwellings completed in the same six calendar years total 43,813, which is 71.1%. Between the 2019 and 2024 entries the dwelling stock rose from 482 thousand to 517 thousand, an increase of 35 thousand, while completions in 2020 to 2024 total 39,393; CYSTAT does not reconcile the two in the table, so they are read separately here.

Cost data come from two CYSTAT sources with different definitions. The average cost per square metre of new dwellings completed in the private sector rose from €1,015 in 2019 to €1,204 in 2024, and the average area of a new dwelling fell from 189 to 175 square metres in the same table. The price indices, which are the second source, are base 2021 = 100 and are described next.

Construction price and production indices

CYSTAT’s Price Index of Construction Materials shows the evolution of the cost of construction materials incurred by the contractor. Prices are collected monthly from a sample of products and suppliers, the reference date is the 15th of each month, and prices exclude VAT. The index is a weighted average whose weights reflect each material’s share of contractors’ expenditure, derived from imports and local production in 2021. CYSTAT states that the index forms a component of the Construction Costs Index sent to Eurostat under Regulation (EU) 2019/2152, and that the Construction Costs Index is limited to new residential buildings (CYSTAT, Price Index of Construction Materials: September 2026, 19 October 2026).

For September 2026 the general index was 123.41, up 0.26% on August 2026 and up 3.74% on September 2025; January to September 2026 was 2.24% above January to September 2025. The quarterly Output Prices Index in Construction measures changes in unit prices charged to clients for construction work, including the effect of materials, labour, energy, transport and contractors’ profit, and the Index of Production in Construction is a volume index that approximates value added at constant prices. For April to June 2026 the production index was 130.28 (+1.1% on the second quarter of 2025) and the output prices index 132.48 (+4.9% on the second quarter of 2025 and +2.5% on the first quarter of 2026); both are unadjusted (CYSTAT, 2nd Quarter 2026 release, 9 October 2026).

The annual figures are from CYSTAT-DB (materials and construction indices, annual tables, updated 19 January 2026 and 9 October 2026). The materials index rose +15.68% in 2022 and then moved by +2.20%, −0.81% and +1.30% in 2023, 2024 and 2025, while the output prices index rose by between 4.11% and 8.65% a year in 2022 to 2025. Within the September 2026 materials release, the category changes on September 2025 were as follows.

Legal and Administrative Framework for a Building Permit

The official Cyprus business portal describes two permits in sequence. A town planning permit comes first, and a building permit follows for the construction, demolition, extension, alteration or conversion, repair or change of use of a building. The building permit is issued by the District Local Government Organisation of the district where the building is located, applications are submitted electronically through the Ippodamos system, and the legal basis is the Streets and Buildings Regulation Law (Cap. 96). The owner applies, usually through an authorised designer, and the authority may ask for documents beyond those the system lists (Business in Cyprus, Building permission). The portal lists roughly thirty possible supporting items, which include architectural, structural, electrical and mechanical plans, a geological study, energy-efficiency documents and a professional liability insurance certificate from the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK).

The planning step is described on a separate portal page. The competent Town Planning Authority is set by a delegation-of-powers decree, the owner or an authorised representative applies electronically through Ippodamos, a receiving officer checks completeness and calculates fees, and the authority assesses the application against the current Development Plan. The page states that the authority should decide within three months of submission, that an extension may be agreed with the applicant, that a planning permit is valid for three years unless it says otherwise, and that preliminary opinions are binding for one year (Business in Cyprus, Planning permission).

Time limits and procedures announced for specific categories

Shorter time limits have been announced for categories of development. On 3 February 2025 Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou announced a fast-track process, reported by Cyprus Mail, under which low-risk developments (those on registered parcels or parcels in the process of registration) receive a decision on the town planning permit within 20 working days and on the building permit within a further 20 working days, 40 working days in total. If the DLGO does not reject an application within the 20-day window the permit is treated as granted and issued by the Ippodamos system on day 21. For medium-risk developments, defined in that report as up to 12 homes in a row or four-storey buildings of up to 20 apartments with a basement, the stated limit was 80 working days, starting in March 2025 (Cyprus Mail, 3 February 2025).

On 17 March 2026 the same minister, as reported by Cyprus Mail, said that nearly 2,100 applications for developments of up to two homes had been processed within 40 working days and that 660 applications for apartment buildings of up to 20 units had been examined within 80 working days. He also said 46 applications had been filed to use planning incentives and extra building coefficients, which would lead to more than 2,500 homes built gradually over two years, about 400 of them affordable, and that 24 applications involved buying building coefficients, bringing €12.5 million to the Special Affordable Housing Fund of the Cyprus Land Development Corporation (Cyprus Mail, 17 March 2026).

The legal text itself is under amendment. The Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) published on 31 March 2026 that the Ministry of Interior had opened a public electronic comment process on a bill titled the Regulation of Roads and Buildings (Amendment) (No. 2) Law of 2026, which would add a special procedure to legalise buildings constructed without a prior building permit, provided construction was completed before the amending law takes effect. Comments were due by 20 April 2026 (OEB notice, 31 March 2026). The status of that bill after the comment period is not described in the sources used here.

VAT, Energy Performance and Title Deeds: Official Rules and Data

VAT on new dwellings and the permit-date conditions

The Cyprus Tax Department’s notice of 4 May 2026 links VAT treatment to permit dates. Under Amending Law 109(I)/2026, published in the Official Gazette (No. 5089) on 24 April 2026, the Tax Commissioner may examine, until 31 December 2026, applications (responsible declarations) under Article 63 of the VAT Law whose examination was not completed in time because of delays by the planning authorities. The notice states that Article 63 is a transitional provision for cases where a town planning permit was obtained, or applied for, by 31 October 2023. The Commissioner accepts declarations for the reduced 5% rate where the planning-permit application or permit dates from 31 October 2023 or earlier and a building permit was issued after 1 January 2025 or will not have been issued by 31 December 2026. The reduced rate applies to the first 200 square metres of buildable area for declarations where the planning application was filed by 31 October 2023 and the building permit issued by 31 December 2024, if submitted by 15 June 2026, and declarations must be submitted through the Tax For All (TFA) system (Tax Department notice, gov.cy, 4 May 2026). The site’s reduced VAT on primary residence page covers the buyer-side rules of the 5% rate.

Energy performance of buildings

The European Commission states that the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/1275, took effect on 28 May 2024 and that Member States must transpose it by 29 May 2026 (European Commission, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive). The Commission’s circular cities and regions page states that new buildings must be zero-emission from 2028 for public-body-owned buildings and from 2030 for all other new buildings (European Commission, circular cities and regions page on the directive), and the Commission’s energy page adds that life-cycle global warming potential is to be disclosed in energy performance certificates from January 2028 for new buildings above 1,000 square metres and from January 2030 for all new buildings. On 15 July 2026 the Commission announced that it had sent letters of formal notice to all 27 Member States for not fully transposing the directive, each with two months to respond (European Commission news item, 15 July 2026). The national transposition measures are not described in these sources, so the national text should be read from the Cyprus legislation database.

Land Registry title-deed data

The Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS) publishes development-project title-deed statistics as periodic tables. The DLS table dated 5 October 2026 covers applications for developments that create one or more new registrations and gives the position at 30 September 2026; the corresponding table dated 3 December 2025 gives the position at 30 November 2025 (DLS, Issued Title Deeds in Project Developments 2026; DLS, 2025 table).

By district at 30 September 2026, pending applications and the parcels or units they cover were: Nicosia 17 and 160, Famagusta 1 and 30, Larnaca 42 and 260, Limassol 15 and 159, and Paphos 69 and 1,104, for 144 applications and 1,713 parcels or units in total. The DLS general registration page also states that in 2021 the Department issued about 1,700 title deeds and that about 18,000 were pending for various developments, a figure that includes developments where no one has taken action (DLS, General Registration and Incorporation of New Plans Section). The two series use different counting units, so they are not combined here.

Labour and Procedures: What Named Bodies Have Said

The statements below are attributed to the bodies named, with the date and the outlet in which each appeared. They are positions or estimates of those bodies and are not CYSTAT statistics.

The reports tie the construction labour discussion to the Syrian voluntary-return scheme, under which families receive financial help to return and one adult family member may stay temporarily and keep working. Non-EU workers generally need an entry permit and a temporary residence and employment permit, and employers must complete approval procedures; a contractor quoted by Cyprus Mail said recruiting Egyptians is harder than recruiting from EU countries for that reason. The Egypt memorandum was signed in June 2024 with a joint committee, and the two governments agreed in April 2026 to step up its implementation, including vocational training (Cyprus Mail, 4 September 2026). OSEOK’s April 2026 statements are in the CBN report of 2 April 2026, and the labour-migration framework, including the 26,710 valid general-category residence and work permits at the end of August 2026, is summarised in the Cyprus Mail overview of 27 September 2026.

No CYSTAT table links permit counts to labour supply. The construction statistics that exist alongside permits are the production index, which for April to June 2026 was 130.28 on a 2021 base (+1.1% on the second quarter of 2025), and the annual sector tables in the Construction and Housing sheet, whose new construction line shows €3,823.8 million in 2024 against €3,592.6 million in 2023 (+6.4%), of which residential buildings were €2,576.2 million against €2,373.1 million (+8.6%).

Supply Context: Contracts, Population and Households

Two official series give context for the permit figures without changing how permits are counted. The DLS publishes the number of contracts of sale registered at its district offices, and CYSTAT publishes de jure population and households at the end of each year. The DLS file dated 5 October 2026 reports 14,969 registered contracts of sale in January to September 2026 against 13,173 in January to September 2025 (+14%) (DLS, Contracts of Sale 2025 and 2026). The contract series covers registered contracts of sale of all property, with no split between new and resale properties, so it is not a count of new-build sales.

The last column divides two quantities with different meanings: dwelling units authorised on permits and contracts of sale of any property. It is a ratio for comparing districts and not a measure of unsold stock. For example, Limassol had 3,264 contracts and 3,527 permitted units, a ratio of 1.08, while Larnaca had 2,163 contracts and 3,277 units, a ratio of 1.52.

On the demand side of household formation, CYSTAT-DB reports the end-of-year de jure population and the households at the end of the year (CYSTAT-DB, Population tables).

Between the end of 2021 and the end of 2024 the population rose from 929.8 thousand to 983 thousand (+53.2 thousand) and households from 360.3 thousand to 387 thousand (+26.7 thousand). The dwelling units provided for by permits in 2022, 2023 and 2024 total 32,212, which is 1.21 times the increase in households over those three years, and new dwellings completed in 2022 to 2024 total 25,685, which is 0.96 times that increase. CYSTAT’s end-2025 population is 996.6 thousand (+1.4%). The dwelling stock of 517 thousand at the end of 2024 compares with 387.0 thousand households, a ratio of 1.34 dwellings per household; the table does not say how many of the dwellings are households’ usual residences. The site’s rental prices by city and housing price history pages cover the price side, which this page does not.

How to Read Cyprus Building Permits Statistics

Permits, starts and completions are three different events

A permit counted by CYSTAT is a permit authorised in a month. It is not a start of construction and not a completion. CYSTAT’s own description of the data collection says it compiles the number of permits authorised, the area and value of the project and the number of dwelling units that are expected to be built. The words “expected to be built” are the definition of the dwelling-unit column: it records what the permit provides for. The count records authorisations, so a permit stays in it whether or not construction later starts, a project can be built in phases, and permits that are re-issued are included, because CYSTAT excludes only renewals and permits for the division of buildings.

Completions come from a separate source, the annual Construction and Housing table, and appear with a delay: the 22 July 2026 update contains completions to 2024 only. The permit tables used here contain no start-of-construction series. Because three events are measured separately, the permit series cannot be converted into completions by a fixed rule, and the annual comparison earlier in this page shows why: for 2019 to 2024, 43,813 dwellings were completed while 61,637 units were permitted.

Time lags and base periods

The permit release for a month appears about three months after the month ends: June 2026 was published on 5 October 2026 and July 2026 is scheduled for 13 November 2026. Cumulative changes depend on the base year, as the monthly section shows: the same January-to-June 2026 permit count is +29.5% against 2025 and −8.0% against 2024. Each press release compares a period with the same period of the previous year, and the previous-year figure used in a release can be different from the figure in the release of a year earlier if CYSTAT has updated it; the check below compares the January-to-April 2026 total with the sum of the later monthly figures.

CYSTAT’s June release gives January to June 2026 as 4,401, and its May and June month counts are 735 and 751; subtracting them gives 2,915, which is the January to April total of 2,915 reported in the April release. The 2025 base reconciles the same way: 3,399 less 607 and 635 is 2,157, equal to the 2,157 reported for January to April 2025. The two cumulative totals therefore did not change between releases.

Value, area and units move differently

The permit value is the cost declared on the permit in nominal euros, and CYSTAT’s construction price indices show that output prices rose 5.93%, 4.47% and 4.11% in 2023, 2024 and 2025, so part of a nominal value increase reflects prices. Area and dwelling units are physical quantities and are not affected by that. In January to June 2026 the value rose 48.2% and the area 47.1%, which are close, while dwelling units rose 67.8% because the average authorised floor area per unit changed with the building mix: 2,097,440 square metres across 11,100 units is 189 square metres per unit including non-residential area, against 1,426,297 across 6,616 units, which is 216.

Recomputing the percentage changes in the earlier version of this page

The earlier version of this page quoted percentages for January to April 2026. The table recomputes each of them from the counts in CYSTAT’s April 2026 release (CYSTAT, Building Permits: April 2026, 10 August 2026), and the 2023 figure from the November 2023 release (CYSTAT, November 2023 release, 9 February 2024).

Each recomputed figure matches the CYSTAT-reported figure to one decimal place. The January-to-April permit count is 2,915 less 2,157, a difference of 758, divided by 2,157. The dwelling-unit change is 7,131 less 4,321, a difference of 2,810, divided by 4,321. The earlier page also described 2023 as a year of decline that 2026 reversed; the annual series above shows a further fall in 2024 (−4.8%) and a rise of 19.5% in 2025 before the 2026 months, and CYSTAT’s full-year 2023 change was −5.7%, against the −5.8% for the first eleven months that the earlier page quoted. The January-to-April figures have since been superseded by the January-to-June release, in which permits are +29.5%, value +48.2%, area +47.1% and dwelling units +67.8%.

Planned units against delivered units

Planned units are the dwelling units provided for on authorised permits, and delivered units are completions. For 2024 the two figures are 11,329 permitted and 8,692 completed. For 2025 the permitted figure is 16,171, and no completions figure is yet in the table. For January to June 2026 the permitted figure is 11,100 over six months, a figure that CYSTAT reports by building type: apartment blocks account for 8,669 of them. A reader who wants to relate any of these to what reaches the market therefore needs the completions table when it is updated, and that table will state its own definition of a completed dwelling.

Reference Table: Headline Figures With Sources and Dates

The table lists the headline figures used in this page, each with the series, period, release date and source. Release dates are those printed on the documents.

The permit data feed into the wider market picture discussed on the site’s Cyprus real estate market statistics page and in the article on the upper end of the Cyprus market, and the Cyprus real estate hub lists the country and district pages. Listing pages for individual projects, for example Demetra Residences in Paphos, Sangria Hills in Limassol and Mare Residences in Paphos, state their own details; none of the permit figures above applies to a single project. The resale purchase page covers the buying costs for existing properties, which sit outside the permit statistics.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Cyprus building permits were issued from January to June 2026?

CYSTAT’s release of 5 October 2026 reports 4,401 Cyprus building permits for January to June 2026, against 3,399 in the same months of 2025, a change of +29.5%. The permits have a total value of €2,568.9 million and provide for 11,100 dwelling units.

What is the latest CYSTAT release on building permits?

The latest release on Cyprus building permits is the June 2026 release, published on 5 October 2026. CYSTAT’s calendar lists the July 2026 release for 13 November 2026, after which the figures in this page will have been superseded.

What does a CYSTAT building permit count include?

Cyprus building permits in the CYSTAT count cover residential and non-residential buildings, civil engineering projects, division of plots and road construction. The count includes permits for demolitions and re-issued permits and excludes permit renewals and permits for the division of buildings.

Is a permit the same as a start of construction or a completion?

No. A permit is an authorisation, and the dwelling units on it are the units it provides for. Completions are published separately in CYSTAT’s Construction and Housing table, which reports 8,692 new dwellings completed in 2024 against 11,329 units permitted in that year.

Why does the growth rate for Cyprus building permits depend on the comparison year?

The monthly series has 1,528 permits in June 2024 and 97 in July 2024, around the 1 July 2024 transfer of authority to the Local Government Organisations. January to June 2026 is +29.5% against 2025 and −8.0% against 2024 on permit counts.

Who issues a building permit in Cyprus now?

For Cyprus building permits, according to the Business in Cyprus portal, the District Local Government Organisation of the district issues the building permit after a town planning permit, and applications go through the Ippodamos system. CYSTAT dates the transfer of this authority from municipalities and district offices to the Local Government Organisations as 1 July 2024.

What time limits apply to a permit?

For Cyprus building permits, the planning portal says the authority should decide a planning application within three months. Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou announced on 3 February 2025 a 40-working-day process for low-risk developments, with deemed approval on day 21 of each 20-day stage, and an 80-working-day process for medium-risk developments, as reported by Cyprus Mail.

What has OSEOK said about labour for construction?

On the labour side of Cyprus building permits and construction, OSEOK chairman Stelios Gavriel said on 2 April 2026, as reported by CBN, that bringing workers to Cyprus can take six to twelve months. On 4 September 2026 OSEOK told Cyprus Mail that the government was in talks with Egypt and India on bringing in workers.

What do the Cyprus building permits figures say about construction costs?

The Cyprus building permits tables record the value declared on each permit, which is a nominal euro amount. CYSTAT’s separate output prices index for construction was 132.48 in the second quarter of 2026 (2021=100), +4.9% on a year earlier, and the materials price index was 123.41 in September 2026 (+3.74%).

How do the 5% VAT transitional rules relate to permit dates?

Cyprus building permits affect VAT treatment in transitional cases: the Tax Department’s notice of 4 May 2026 under Law 109(I)/2026 lets the Tax Commissioner examine, until 31 December 2026, declarations affected by delays at the planning authorities, for cases with a town planning permit or application dated 31 October 2023 or earlier. Declarations go through the Tax For All system.

Last checked: 29 October 2026. Sources: CYSTAT Building Permits June 2026; CYSTAT May 2026; CYSTAT April 2026; CYSTAT March 2026; CYSTAT December 2025; CYSTAT December 2024; CYSTAT December 2023; CYSTAT November 2023; CYSTAT-DB building permits; CYSTAT-DB population; CYSTAT construction materials index; CYSTAT construction production and output prices; CYSTAT Construction and Housing; CYSTAT construction page; CYSTAT survey methodology; DLS contracts of sale; DLS title deeds 2026; DLS title deeds 2025; DLS registration section; Business in Cyprus building permission; Business in Cyprus planning permission; Tax Department notice; European Commission EPBD; European Commission circular cities page; European Commission 15 July 2026; OEB notice; CBN, OSEOK; Cyprus Mail 4 September 2026; Cyprus Mail 27 September 2026; Cyprus Mail 17 March 2026; Cyprus Mail 3 February 2025.