On Thursday 2 January, Cyprus began accepting applications for subsidised mortgage rates.
You will be able to benefit from the government's support until 28 February 2025. To do so, you must apply at one of the Citizens' Service Centres in Cyprus (KEP), after filling in an application form on the website of the General Treasury.
As a reminder, the main objective of the scheme is to provide financial support to households that have taken out loans for the purpose of home ownership between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023. The government subsidy covers 2% of the percentage of the mortgage rate. The scheme is aimed at households with an annual income of €50,000 or less. The Cypriot Ministry of Finance is responsible for overseeing the initiative. The total budget of the scheme is EUR 33 million.
It is worth mentioning that the state programme to subsidise mortgage interest payments was launched for the first time in Cyprus in the summer of 2020.
At that time, the government plan applied to loans contracted between 1 March and 31 December 2020. Due to its unprecedented popularity among the local population, the Cypriot government announced its extension until the end of 2021. It should be noted that the main conditions for receiving the government subsidy were that the housing loan should not exceed EUR 300,000 and the mortgage rate should not exceed 2.3%. The subsidy was granted for 4 years and covered up to 1.5% of the mortgage rate.
This time, the beneficiaries of the plan are households with an annual family income of up to 50 thousand euros who have taken out a housing loan of up to 400 thousand euros between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023.
One of the main criteria for participation in the new scheme is that monthly payments are made on time. The subsidy covers a percentage of the average interest rate increase. The increase is calculated on the basis of the initial rate in force when the contract was signed. The subsidy cannot exceed two percentage points of the interest rate.