Luxury Real Estate Market in Cyprus: 2026 Data and Drivers

Luxury Real Estate Market in Cyprus: 2026 Data and Drivers

This page reviews the luxury real estate market in Cyprus as it stands on 28 October 2026. It draws on the Department of Lands and Surveys (sales contracts, transfers), the Central Bank of Cyprus, the Statistical Service (CYSTAT), RICS with KPMG, and the agency datasets of Landbank Analytics, Ask Wire and Sotheby’s International Realty Cyprus. Every figure carries its source, reference period and, where the source states one, its method. The scope is the Republic of Cyprus, meaning the districts of Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos and Famagusta under the control of the Republic’s government; Northern Cyprus is covered in our other guides, such as the North Cyprus property prices page, and is not part of the statistics used here.

The earlier version of this article, written in February 2024, summarised a global agent survey from Sotheby’s International Realty. A global survey does not measure the luxury real estate market in Cyprus, so this version replaces it with island-specific data. Readers will find how each source defines “luxury” or “prime”, what the Land Registry recorded from January to September 2026, who the buyers are by EU and non-EU status, what price indices show, what the upper price bands look like in agency data, which demand and supply drivers the sources name, the residence and citizenship rules, 2026 taxes and costs with worked arithmetic, financing, the risks the sources flag, and a dated table of what each report concludes.

What the Luxury Real Estate Market in Cyprus Means in Each Source

There is no official statistical definition of a prime home in Cyprus. The Department of Lands and Surveys, the Central Bank of Cyprus and CYSTAT publish figures for all residential property or for all property types, and none of them splits out a prime segment. The luxury real estate market in Cyprus is therefore described through proxies, and each proxy cuts the market differently. The table sets out what each source actually measures, so that numbers from different sources are not mixed.

Two consequences follow. First, a €1 million threshold, used by Landbank’s bands, is a price cut-off and says nothing about size, location or finish. Second, the Ask Wire series ranks sales by size, and its top lists include land, so it measures large deals more than it measures prime homes. Sotheby’s International Realty Cyprus’s chief executive, Anastasia Yianni, was quoted in Welcome Magazine on 23 January 2026 as saying that resales of older properties start at about €2,000 per square metre and that new high-end developments can exceed €10,000 per square metre; the article gives no definition of the term.

Sales Contracts and Transfers: What the Land Registry Recorded

The most direct official measure of activity is the count of sales contracts deposited with the Department of Lands and Surveys. In its tables dated 5 October 2026, the Department reports 14,969 registered contracts for January to September 2026, against 13,173 in the same months of 2025, an increase of 1,796 contracts or 13.6% (the Department rounds to 14%). September 2026 alone recorded 1,681 contracts against 1,484 a year earlier, and the monthly peak was July at 2,040. Each month of 2026 was above the same month of 2025, and the smallest gap was in May (1,723 against 1,644, or 5%).

Limassol and Paphos together added (4,860 − 4,156) + (2,999 − 2,531) = 704 + 468 = 1,172 contracts, which is 65% of the island-wide increase of 1,796. Famagusta district, where Ayia Napa and Protaras are located, grew by 5% over the nine months but was below its 2025 level in each month from May to September, with September at 63 contracts against 79. These counts cover every type of property, including plots and commercial units, so they describe activity in the whole market and not in the upper price bands.

Contracts versus completed transfers

A contract is deposited when the sale agreement is signed, and the title moves later. For a property under construction, the Department’s buyer leaflet states that a unit cannot be registered until the completion certificate and the Building Authority certificate exist, so contracts on new developments are counted well before transfers. The Department’s transfer tables, also dated 5 October 2026, show 14,764 completed transfer cases covering 16,525 properties from January to September 2026, with a declared amount of €3,461.5 million and an accepted amount (the value on which transfer fees are calculated) of €3,725.5 million. The accepted amount is 7.6% above the declared amount: 3,725.5 ÷ 3,461.5 = 1.076.

The last column divides the accepted amount by the number of properties, which includes land and commercial units. It is a rough average of the whole market and not a price of a house. It shows the spread between districts: Limassol’s average is about 2.1 times Nicosia’s (€336,800 against €160,200), and Paphos sits at about €249,600. The division is arithmetic on the Department’s figures.

Who Buys: Buyer Origin in Land Registry and Central Bank Data

The Department publishes a separate table for buyers other than Cypriots, split into those within the EU and those outside the EU (“aliens” in the Department’s wording). For January to September 2026 it records 6,267 properties with registered contracts to foreign buyers: 2,094 to buyers within the EU and 4,173 to buyers outside the EU. The same table counts 7,744 foreign buyers on those contracts, 2,301 from the EU and 5,443 from outside it. Dividing properties by the 14,969 total contracts gives 41.9%, but the two measures count different things (properties against contracts), so the share is indicative.

Paphos stands out: foreign buyers account for 70.6% of its contracts (2,117 of 2,999), against 37.3% in Limassol and 15.6% in Nicosia. Non-EU buyers outnumber EU buyers about two to one on the island as a whole (4,173 ÷ 2,094 = 1.99). In the transfer tables the foreign share is lower, 20.8% of properties transferred (3,433 of 16,525), and the gap between 41.9% of contracts and 20.8% of transfers is what the structure above predicts: contracts on units still being built have not yet reached transfer. The BuySell analysis, published in Cyprus Mail on 13 October 2026, makes the same attribution to off-plan purchases.

The Central Bank of Cyprus gives a second view for the second quarter of 2026. Of 5,298 contracts, 3,191 were to local buyers, 735 to EU buyers and 1,372 to non-EU buyers. By district, the local share of contracts was 84% in Nicosia, 66% in Limassol and 57% in Larnaca, the split in Famagusta was close to balanced (48% local), and foreign buyers made up 66% in Paphos. The Bank states that the annual rise in contracts of 15.4% (5,298 against 4,592) reflected mainly foreign buyers and, to a lesser extent, local buyers: properties sold to foreign buyers rose 22.7% (2,107 against 1,717) and properties sold to local buyers rose 11.0% (3,191 against 2,875).

The sources named by this page do not publish contracts by nationality. Where nationalities are named, they come from the stated source and not from the Land Registry: the chief executive of Sotheby’s International Realty Cyprus said in January 2026 that most buyers were Europeans or from the United Kingdom, that others came from third countries, mainly former Soviet states, and from the Middle East, the United States, Canada and Australia, and that the agency had served buyers from 25 countries that year. That is one agency’s client base, not a national count.

Price Indices: Central Bank, CYSTAT and RICS Compared

Three independent indices cover the whole residential market, and none isolates a prime segment. The Central Bank of Cyprus Residential Property Price Index for the second quarter of 2026, published on 24 September 2026, stood at 109.7 on its 2010 Q1 = 100 base. That is a 2.4% rise on the first quarter and 8.5% on the second quarter of 2025, as shown in the Bank’s 2026 Q2 release. The Bank builds the index from bank valuations supplied by banks and an asset management company, drawn from more than 100 property survey offices, and notes that smoothed regression coefficients mean the index may lag turning points slightly.

The base arithmetic shows how different the two property types are. Apartments stand at 128.7, which is 28.7% above their 2010 Q1 level, while houses stand at 98.0, which is 2.0% below it. For a buyer of a villa, the house index is the closer reference, and its annual growth of 5.8% in the second quarter of 2026 was slower than the apartment figure of 8.9% and slower than the overall 8.5%.

In Paphos, which is the district most associated with villas in our own listings, the house index rose 3.1% year on year while the apartment index rose 18.5%; the Bank notes that Paphos was the only district where annual house price growth slowed. Famagusta, which includes Ayia Napa and Protaras, recorded the highest annual growth for houses (10.5%) and for the district overall (10.0%): its house index of 105.4 compares with Limassol’s 110.0.

CYSTAT House Price Index

CYSTAT’s House Price Index, released on 30 September 2026 and marked preliminary, was 105.46 for the second quarter of 2026, up 2.4% on the first quarter and 7.9% on a year earlier (Cyprus Mail report). The index covers new and existing dwellings bought by households, includes the land component, and is built from Land Registry data for the government-controlled areas. Its new-dwelling sub-index was 105.73 and the existing-dwelling sub-index 105.10. Eurostat’s release of 1 October 2026, available on its house price statistics page, puts annual house price growth at 4.7% in the EU and 4.0% in the euro area for the same quarter.

RICS Cyprus Property Index with KPMG

The RICS index for the second quarter of 2026 measures notional buildings in the urban centres of Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos and Paralimni-Famagusta, with values estimated by accredited RICS professionals using a method developed by the University of Reading, and covers only the Republic’s government-controlled area. Year-on-year changes in market values were 5.42% for apartments, 4.04% for houses, 4.22% for warehouses, 3.69% for offices and 0.66% for retail; rents rose 7.36% for apartments and 5.30% for houses. The report says houses grew broadly, with Larnaca and Paphos ahead, Limassol moderate and Nicosia unchanged. In the accompanying press release KPMG’s Christophoros Anayiotos described the market as resilient and stable.

Our own Cyprus real estate market statistics page, the Cyprus rental prices by city page and the page on whether Cyprus housing is still cheaper than in 2010 cover long-run price and rent context for the whole island.

The Upper Price Bands of the Luxury Real Estate Market in Cyprus

Because official series do not isolate prime property, the available evidence on the upper end comes from agency analytics that report price bands. Landbank Analytics’ first-half 2026 analysis of new-build sales, reported by Cyprus Mail on 31 July 2026, counts 3,594 sales worth about €1.149 billion, of which 2,977 were apartments and 617 houses. Houses accounted for 17.2% of sales but 29.4% of value, with an average of €548,049 and a median of €365,000, against an apartment average of €272,274 and median of €215,000.

On this measure, new-build sales at €1 million or more were 103 of 3,594, or 2.9%, and 83% of new-build sales were below €400,000. Paphos had the highest district median (€360,000) and the highest median for houses (€570,000), though the article notes that a single €13 million sale lifted the Paphos house average; the article therefore treats the median as the more representative figure. At municipality level, Peyia had 52 sales with a median of €789,000 and Germasogeia 132 with a median of €472,500. Landbank’s earlier analysis of January to October 2025, reported by Cyprus Property News on 12 February 2026, found the Paphos district average at €470,000, above Limassol’s €451,000, and an average above €646,000 in the Akamas municipality, which includes Peyia.

Resale and the largest deals

Landbank’s resale analysis for the first half of 2026, reported by Cyprus Mail on 23 September 2026, covers 3,202 residential-type transactions worth €727.2 million, of which 84% were at €300,000 or below. Only 44 sales were between €1 million and €2 million (€58.8 million in total, median €1.24 million) and only 26 were above €2 million (€125.7 million in total, median €3.3 million); the 26 sales were 0.8% of transactions and 17.3% of value. Median resale prices per square metre were €2,686 for Limassol apartments and €2,221 for Limassol houses, €1,748 and €1,886 in Paphos, and €1,610 and €1,760 in Famagusta; the highest apartment hotspot was Agios Tychonas at €3,382, and the median house price in Ayia Napa was €455,000.

The Ask Wire analysis of the largest sales gives a different lens. For the first quarter of 2026, reported by Politis on 15 May 2026, the 50 largest completed sales totalled €197.7 million: 29 in Limassol (€107.2 million), 17 in Paphos (€71.8 million), two in Nicosia, one in Larnaca and one in Famagusta. The largest was €19.7 million for land with a building in Moni, Limassol, and six of the top ten involved land plots; the top ten also included a villa in Peyia at €6.3 million and a house in Agios Theodoros at €5.8 million. The first-half analysis, in Cyprus Mail on 28 July 2026, put the top 50 at €286.4 million and the top ten at €161.7 million, with seven of the ten involving fields or plots. Ask Wire’s chief executive said the land activity may indicate the market is preparing for a new development cycle.

The Insights Q2 2026 report of Sotheby’s International Realty Cyprus, summarised by Cyprus Business News on 27 August 2026, counts 4,622 residential transactions worth €1.38 billion in the quarter, 11.2% more than in the second quarter of 2025. By district: Limassol 1,230, Paphos 1,195, Larnaca 1,081, Nicosia 930 and Famagusta 186. It states that 71% of Limassol’s transactions were in the mid- and high-range segments, that 78% of Limassol’s sales were new builds and assignments, and that Paphos accounted for 61% of mid- and high-range houses sold across Cyprus. The agency’s count and the 5,298 contracts in the CBC release are different measures, and the coverage reviewed does not state how the agency counts or how it defines its segments in euros.

Within our own listings, the Demetra Residences Paphos villas start at €750,000 (per our listing page, 28 October 2026), the Bellerophon Villas Paphos carry a price field of €585,000 to €3,650,000 entered in December 2023, the Rozalea Villas list €1,100,000 to €1,285,000 for 394.5–428.07 m², and the Aquamare Villas are listed from €695,000. The villas for sale in Cyprus page shows the villa listings together, and the Southern Cyprus page lists every project in the Republic of Cyprus.

Demand Drivers the Sources Name

The Central Bank of Cyprus is explicit about demand in its second-quarter 2026 release: the rise in prices is attributed to strong housing demand, mainly from foreign buyers and to a lesser extent from local buyers, together with rising construction costs. It adds that the volume of new housing loans rose 14.2% (€403.6 million against €353.5 million), which indicates that part of the demand is financed by local borrowing. These are the Bank’s statements; the table collects the drivers that each named source gives, so that the origin of every claim is visible.

On tourism, CYSTAT figures reported by Cyprus Mail on 19 October 2026 show that arrivals from January to September 2026 were 203,252 below the same period of 2025 (3,401,538 against 3,604,790), after a shortfall of 10.1% at the end of June narrowed to 5.6%. In September 2026 the United Kingdom supplied 184,345 arrivals (31.7%) and Israel 105,249 (18.1%, up 31.4%). The article attributes the downturn to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East from March 2026. RICS’s chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, said in the KPMG release that concerns about the impact on tourism had not materialised. Our Cyprus tourism trends page keeps the longer arrivals series.

Residence Routes and the End of Citizenship by Investment

Two legal facts shape how the luxury real estate market in Cyprus is described to foreign buyers, and both are sometimes misstated. The first is that there is no purchase-based citizenship. The Cyprus Mail reported on 4 December 2025 that the scheme was scrapped in November 2020 and that the House on 4 December 2025 passed a law removing the Cabinet’s power to grant citizenship to investors. The law is Law 224(I)/2025, published in the Official Gazette (issue 5066) on 12 December 2025; it deletes subsection (2) of section 111A of the Civil Registry Law, and a new subsection 2A keeps the old provisions in force only where a court orders a re-examination of an earlier decision on an application submitted up to 30 October 2020, as the Gazette text reads. The European Commission, which opened infringement proceedings on 20 October 2020, closed the case on 11 March 2026, according to the Cyprus Mail of 12 March 2026.

The second fact concerns the permanent residence route. The Migration Department publishes criteria under which a third-country national investing in Cyprus can apply for an immigration permit through an expedited procedure; the criteria page, posted on 29 December 2025, is the fourth revision of May 2023. A permit is a decision on an application and not a consequence of signing a sale contract. Our Cyprus residence permit page and the Southern Cyprus citizenship and immigration page describe the permit categories in more detail.

The criteria also state that disposing of the investment without replacing it with one of equal or greater value leads to cancellation, and that the permit lapses after two years of absence. Law firm Kinanis LLC’s summary of the same criteria, published on Legal 500 on 30 August 2023, matches these figures.

On 24 September 2026 the Cyprus Mail reported that Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides told the House audit committee that the scheme would be tightened ahead of Schengen entry, that about 1,500 investor permits had been issued in the past two years, that about 12,000 permits issued since 2013 were being checked, and that proposals sent to other ministers were awaiting decisions; he mentioned direction of investment towards education, defence and innovation as an option under study. The article records no new threshold or date, so the criteria in the table are the ones published on the Department’s page on 28 October 2026. The Cyprus Mail reported on 10 October 2026 that the same minister expects full Schengen integration during 2027, which requires a unanimous Council decision.

Buyers who are not EU or EEA citizens also need permission to acquire property. Section 3(1) of the Immovable Property Acquisition (Aliens) Law, Cap. 109, prohibits an alien from acquiring immovable property without prior permission, section 3(3) provides that a valid contract gives the alien no right to acquire until permission is granted, and section 3(1A) adds conditions where the area exceeds what a dwelling needs and in any case two donums. The Ministry of Interior page states that the permission is requested on form COMM 145 from the District Administration, costs nothing, takes two to three weeks, and covers a plot of up to 4,000 m² for an owner-occupied dwelling and up to two units. The text of the law is on cylaw.org.

Supply: Permits, Pipeline, Construction Costs and Land

The Statistical Service publishes building permits monthly. Its release of 16 September 2026 reports 735 permits in May 2026 for 1,847 dwelling units, and 3,650 permits in January to May 2026 against 2,764 a year earlier (+32.1%). Residential permits numbered 2,684 against 2,044, and the units they provide for rose from 5,484 to 8,978, an increase of 63.7%. The June 2026 release of 5 October 2026 shows 751 permits in the month (+18.3%), and the Cyprus Mail figures on it report 11,100 dwelling units for the first half of 2026 against 6,616.

The mix matters for anyone reading the market as villas. Single houses and two-unit buildings together were 1,469 + 547 = 2,016 of 8,978 units in January to May 2026, or 22.5%, while apartment blocks accounted for most of the increase: 6,667 + 295 = 6,962 units, 77.5%. The Central Bank draws the conclusion that the supply of residential units is expected to increase gradually over the medium term, and it cites a positive reading of 5.6 for the European Commission’s construction-activity index (June 2026). These are the Bank’s statements and not a forecast by this page.

Construction costs and labour

CYSTAT’s construction materials price index for August 2026 was 123.09, 3.39% above August 2025 (CYSTAT release listing of 18 September 2026). The Central Bank’s figure for the second quarter of 2026 is a rise of 2.4% and it attributes high levels to external geopolitical tensions disrupting supply chains. It adds that, in the European Commission’s business surveys, construction firms report labour shortages that put upward pressure on prices, consistent with elevated wage increases in the sector.

Land and the districts

Land is a large part of the transactions recorded in the upper tail. In Landbank’s resale data for the first half of 2026, plots were 753 transactions worth €207.1 million and land 640 transactions worth €155.5 million, against 570 houses worth €165.5 million; residential plots had a median of €145,000. For place-level reading, the district figures above apply to Limassol and Paphos (our Limassol and Paphos pages show the projects we list there), to Larnaca, and to Famagusta district, which contains Ayia Napa and Protaras. In the RPPI, Famagusta’s house index rose 10.5% year on year and Paphos’s apartment index 18.5%; the Bank does not link either movement to land prices, so no such link is drawn here. Our Cyprus golf resorts and real estate page covers the golf resorts of the Republic of Cyprus.

Taxes and Costs When Buying in the Luxury Real Estate Market in Cyprus

The costs of buying and owning a home in the Republic of Cyprus changed on 1 January 2026. The table lists the rules in force on 28 October 2026 with the document that states each. Law 239(I)/2025, published in the Official Gazette (issue 5070) on 31 December 2025, repeals the Stamp Duty Laws of 1963 to 2024 from 1 January 2026, and the Department of Lands and Surveys now states that a contract needs stamping only if at least one party signed it before that date.

Worked example: a €1,500,000 villa

The example uses a round figure for illustration and is not a listing price. For a new villa sold by a VAT-registered developer at €1,500,000 before VAT, the reduced-rate table is unavailable because €1,500,000 − €475,000 = €1,025,000 above the limit, so VAT at 19% is 1,500,000 × 0.19 = €285,000. The transfer fee is nil where VAT is charged, stamp duty is nil from 2026, and the contract deposit is €50. The statutory items total 285,000 + 50 = €285,050, or 19.0% of the price before VAT, and the total outlay before legal and other fees is €1,785,050. For a resale villa at the same price without VAT, the transfer fee is 85,000 × 3% + 85,000 × 5% + (1,500,000 − 170,000) × 8% = 2,550 + 4,250 + 106,400 = €113,200, and €56,600 after the 50% discount, which is 3.8% of the price.

The Department of Lands and Surveys states that when the declared price does not represent market value, the Director determines the value on which fees are payable, and the accepted amounts in the transfer table above exceed declared amounts by 7.6% in aggregate. The Department’s buyer guidance directs buyers to ask the seller whether VAT applies and at which rate. Legal fees have no official scale: the minimum-fee regulations for out-of-court work were repealed by Regulatory Administrative Act 172/2018, so the example does not price them.

Rental income arithmetic

Income tax applies to rental income as part of taxable income. Taking the 2026 bands in Law 244(I)/2025 and a gross rent of €60,000 with no other income, no deductions and no social contributions, the tax is 10,000 × 20% + 10,000 × 25% + 18,000 × 30% = 2,000 + 2,500 + 5,400 = €9,900, or 16.5% of the rent. The calculation applies the band table only. Law 245(I)/2025 deletes the rent definitions in the Special Contribution for Defence Law from 1 January 2026 and replaces Article 3 with an article on dividend income, so the separate contribution on rent that existed before 2026 is not in the amended text.

Financing and Interest Rates

The European Central Bank’s key rates, per its page for the period from 16 September 2026, are 2.50% on the deposit facility, 2.65% on main refinancing operations and 2.90% on the marginal lending facility; each rose by 0.25 percentage points from the levels set on 17 June 2026 (2.25%, 2.40%, 2.65%). The Central Bank of Cyprus reports that the weighted average rate on housing loans of all fixation periods was 3.23% in June 2026 against 3.26% in June 2025. For new loans, the Bank’s August 2026 data, as reported by the Cyprus Mail on 5 October 2026, show an average of 4.16% on new house purchase loans, up from 3.78% in July, and the Bank cautions that the figure is a weighted average of loan types, including primary residences and holiday homes, so it can move with the mix of loans.

The Bank’s Bank Lending Survey of July 2026 found that net demand for housing loans rose in the second quarter, while credit standards stayed unchanged at strict levels, and that banks expect demand to increase in the third quarter. In the same data, the variable-rate share of new house purchase loans of 12.0% is far below the almost 100% recorded at the start of 2022, according to the Bank. For high-value purchases the Cyprus data do not split lending by price band, so the figures above describe the whole housing loan market.

Risks and Points the Sources Flag

Several sources attach explicit cautions to their own numbers, and the table gathers them with dates. None of this is a forecast by this page; each row restates what the named source says.

On foreign purchases, the committee chairman Aristos Damianou described the matter as serious for national security and the economy and wants rules to cover companies as well as individuals; Disy’s Nikoletta Konstantinou warned against disproportionate restrictions; Diko’s Panikos Leonidou called for immediate regulation. Consolidated drafts prepared in April were interrupted by the May parliamentary elections, and discussion is due to resume. Until a law is adopted, the Ministry of Interior’s description of Cap. 109 permissions above remains the rule in force. The Ask Wire chief executive also said the Middle East conflict appears to have influenced second-quarter investment decisions, a view the article does not test.

What Each Named Report Concludes

The table summarises each report once, with its date and method, so a reader can see how far the sources agree. Differences between figures usually come from different bases: contracts against transfers, valuations against registered prices, new builds against resales.

Read together, the official and agency sources agree on direction and differ on size, and the price indices describe the whole residential market. The global Sotheby’s outlook, reported in its September 2026 blog post, gives a Europe-wide figure and does not address Cyprus, which is why it is listed as context only.

Frequently Asked Questions

How large is the luxury real estate market in Cyprus in official data?

The Department of Lands and Surveys, the Central Bank and CYSTAT report on all property or all residential property and do not label a prime segment. The Department recorded 14,969 registered sales contracts of all types from January to September 2026, and Landbank’s band data show 103 new-build sales at €1 million or more in the first half of 2026, 2.9% of 3,594 sales. Resale sales above €1 million were 70 in the same half-year (44 plus 26), per Landbank.

Which districts matter most for prime property?

Limassol and Paphos. Limassol had 4,860 contracts and €1,440.2 million of accepted transfer amounts from January to September 2026, and Paphos had 2,999 contracts and €755.5 million. Ask Wire’s first-quarter top 50 had 29 sales in Limassol and 17 in Paphos. These are the districts in which agencies report the larger sales; the data do not label any district as part of the luxury real estate market in Cyprus.

What share of buyers are foreigners?

Properties with registered contracts to foreign buyers were 6,267 of the 14,969 contracts in January to September 2026, 41.9%, with 2,094 to EU buyers and 4,173 to non-EU buyers. In completed transfers the foreign share was 20.8%. In Paphos it was 70.6% of contracts. The Department counts properties and contracts differently, so the percentage is indicative.

Does buying a property give citizenship or a visa?

No. Citizenship by investment was scrapped in November 2020 and Law 224(I)/2025 removed the remaining Cabinet power on 12 December 2025. The Migration Department’s investor criteria describe a permanent residence permit that is decided on application, with at least €300,000 plus VAT invested in a first-sale house or apartment and other conditions such as an income of €50,000. A tightening is under study, with no published terms as of 24 September 2026.

What taxes apply when buying in 2026?

Stamp duty was repealed from 1 January 2026 by Law 239(I)/2025. A new villa carries VAT at 19% unless the 5% conditions are met, which need a transaction value of no more than €475,000. The Department states transfer fees of 3%, 5% and 8% with a 50% discount, and no fee where VAT is charged. On a €1,500,000 new villa the VAT is €285,000. Immovable property tax was repealed in 2017.

How are prices changing?

The official indices cover all homes. The CBC index rose 8.5% year on year to Q2 2026, houses 5.8% and apartments 8.9%; CYSTAT reports 7.9%. For the upper bands, Landbank reports medians and counts for H1 2026, so the index changes quoted here describe all homes and not only the luxury real estate market in Cyprus.

What do mortgage rates look like?

The ECB deposit facility rate has been 2.50% since 16 September 2026. The Central Bank of Cyprus data reported on 5 October 2026 show an average of 4.16% on new house purchase loans in August 2026, from 3.78% in July, with 12.0% of new loans at variable rates. The Bank says the figure mixes primary-residence and holiday-home loans.

Are restrictions on foreign buyers planned?

Draft bills are before the House Interior Committee. On 22 October 2026 the committee was waiting for a comprehensive government proposal, and its chairman hoped to finish by year-end. No restriction has been adopted. Until then, non-EU buyers need permission under Cap. 109 on form COMM 145, which the Ministry of Interior describes as free and taking two to three weeks.

What is the supply pipeline for the luxury real estate market in Cyprus?

CYSTAT recorded permits for 8,978 dwelling units in January to May 2026, up 63.7% on 5,484 a year earlier, and the units authorised in single houses were 1,469 against 6,667 in apartment blocks. The Central Bank expects the supply of units to increase gradually, a statement about the whole residential market and not about the luxury real estate market in Cyprus alone. Construction materials prices were 3.39% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier.

Last checked: 28 October 2026. Sources: Department of Lands and Surveys, contracts of sale 2025-2026; DLS foreign buyers 2026; DLS transfers of sales 2026; Central Bank of Cyprus, RPPI 2026 Q2; CYSTAT price indices; CYSTAT construction; CYSTAT building permits May 2026; RICS/KPMG index 2026 Q2; KPMG press release; Landbank new builds; Landbank resale; Landbank 2025; Ask Wire Q1; Ask Wire H1; Sotheby’s Cyprus Insights Q2 2026; Welcome Magazine; Sotheby’s global outlook; Eurostat; ECB; Cyprus Mail, rates; Law 224(I)/2025; Law 239(I)/2025; Law 244(I)/2025; Law 245(I)/2025; Law 42(I)/2023; Cap. 109; Ministry of Interior; Migration Department; Legal 500; DLS transfer fees; DLS buyer leaflet; Tax Department, capital gains; Tax Department, immovable property tax; Cyprus Mail, 4 Dec 2025; Cyprus Mail, 12 Mar 2026; Cyprus Mail, 24 Sep 2026; Cyprus Mail, 10 Oct 2026; Cyprus Mail, 22 Oct 2026; Cyprus Mail, 19 Oct 2026; Cyprus Mail, 13 Oct 2026; Cyprus Mail, 19 Oct 2026 (transfers); Cyprus Mail, 30 Sep 2026; Cyprus Mail, 5 Oct 2026 (permits).