Cyprus Property Market Sees Continued Growth in Early 2025, Despite Nicosia Dip

Cyprus’ housing market sustained its upward momentum into the first quarter of 2025, with the general house price index—covering both houses and apartments—registering an annual increase, as revealed in newly released data from the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC).

This increase occurred even as apartment prices began to cool and house prices climbed at a more accelerated pace.

According to the CBC’s figures, the overall house price index saw a 1.9 per cent rise quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2025, a significant leap from the 0.4 per cent increase observed in the final quarter of 2024. This quarterly growth breaks down into a 1.8 per cent increase for house prices and a 1.4 per cent rise for apartment prices.

Looking at annual trends, housing prices grew by 4.8 per cent compared to the same quarter the previous year, improving slightly from the 4.5 per cent annual rise seen in Q4 2024. While apartment prices continued to increase, their growth decelerated to 3.5 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, house prices surged by 5.6 per cent on an annual basis, showing a strengthening trend.

Crucially, the CBC noted that this marks the first time since 2008 that house prices have outpaced apartment prices in terms of annual growth rate.

Demand-side data drawn from the Department of Lands and Surveys showed an uptick in the total number of property sales documents submitted in the first quarter, a rise attributed to both domestic and international buyers. This broad-based increase was consistent across all districts.

“The increase in the number of sales documents from foreign buyers is consistent with the acceleration in the quarterly increases recorded in both the house price index and the apartment price index during the first quarter of 2025,” the CBC stated.

In terms of supply, 2024 saw a slight rise in the issuance of building permits compared to the previous year, indicating a modest recovery in construction activity. This trend was also evident in the European Commission’s economic sentiment surveys, which, as of March 2025, recorded a positive construction activity dispersion index for the sixth consecutive quarter, covering the prior three-month period.

Drilling down into regional performance, Limassol was the only district to experience an acceleration in the annual growth of overall house prices, rising to 5.7 per cent. In contrast, Larnaca, Paphos, and Famagusta all reported slower annual growth, at 5.9 per cent, 12.9 per cent, and 7.3 per cent respectively. Famagusta, in particular, posted the most pronounced deceleration.

Nicosia remained an outlier, with overall house price growth stagnating at 0.7 per cent year-on-year. Within this category, house prices in Nicosia actually declined, marking a negative annual rate of 1.2 per cent.

Elsewhere, Limassol saw house prices accelerate sharply, with a jump to 9.1 per cent from 5.1 per cent previously. Famagusta also maintained solid momentum, with annual house price growth hovering around 8 per cent. However, Paphos saw a slight deceleration to 12.7 per cent, while Larnaca experienced a modest dip to 6 per cent.

When it comes to apartments, Limassol, Larnaca, and Famagusta all recorded a slowdown in annual growth, with increases of 2.6 per cent, 7.1 per cent, and 7.2 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, Nicosia and Paphos reported apartment price growth of 3.1 per cent and a strong 13.8 per cent respectively.

Overall, the data from the CBC reflects a housing market that remains on an upward trajectory, albeit with regional divergences becoming more pronounced—particularly the continued decline in Nicosia’s house prices amid stronger performance in other districts. 

By fLEXI tEAM