On September 22, an awards ceremony for the winners of an architectural competition held as part of the affordable housing construction programme on state-owned land took place at the Cyprus Department of Lands and Surveys. Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou noted that the quality of the submitted entries demonstrates the ability of Cyprus’s architectural community to create modern and creative solutions to one of the country’s key challenges — housing affordability.
The government considers housing to be one of its priorities. Policy in this area is built around two main objectives: increasing the housing stock, including the supply of affordable housing, and improving citizens’ ability — especially that of young people and families — to buy or rent a home. As part of the first objective, the state is using its own land to build modern and affordable residential properties. A total of €70 million has been allocated for the programme. The plan is to build 460 residential units that will later be offered at affordable rental rates. Construction is planned on state-owned plots in four cities:
- Nicosia (Latsia–Geri Municipality);
- Larnaca (Aradippou Municipality);
- Limassol (Kourion Municipality);
- Paphos (Geroskipou Municipality).
Affordable housing architecture: not only about price
One of the main goals of the competition was to show that affordable housing does not necessarily have to mean compromising on quality. According to the Interior Minister, the projects should combine affordability with quality, functionality and sustainability. The authorities aim to create not simply low-cost residential units, but complete and comfortable living environments. Ioannou stressed that the selected architectural proposals represent the first concrete result of the programme, which is intended to move from concepts to the actual construction of homes for hundreds of Cyprus residents.
Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys Kyriakos Koundouros also noted that the competition brought together two main objectives: creating high-quality affordable housing and promoting modern, sustainable architectural design. According to him, the submitted projects proposed different approaches to creating residential complexes that should be affordable, functional, comfortable and harmoniously integrated into their surroundings.
ETEK President Constantinos Constanti highlighted the importance of the architectural competition for the further implementation of the programme. According to him, architectural quality was built into the projects from the outset, while affordable housing should not mean lower construction quality.
Chairman of the Cyprus Architects Association Alkis Dikeos also noted that affordable housing can and should be high quality. In his assessment, the ideas submitted to the competition create a valuable knowledge base for further work on affordable housing projects.
Winners of the architectural competition
A total of 52 projects were submitted for consideration, and 18 received awards. Prizes ranged from €20,000 for first place to €3,000 for an honourable mention.
The projects were divided into 7 categories. The awards were distributed as follows:
Category 1
- 1st prize: Irini Evgeniou and Paisios Skitini
- 3rd prize: NOA ARCHITECTS L.L.C.
- Honourable mention: Nicoletta Michael and Styliani Michael
Category 2
- 1st prize: Yiannos Koliandris, Maria Kyriakou and Marina Michael
Category 3
- 1st prize: Andreas Constantinou and Irini Kleidira
- 2nd prize: Myrto Vravosinou, Alexandra Vougia, Theodosis Isaias, Platon Isaias and Yiannantonis Moutsatsos.
Category 4
- 1st prize: Pantelis Papadopoulos, Eleni Flouri and Laura-Maria Fotiou
- 2nd prize: Michael Psaras, Iris Miltiadou, Marina Pasia, Andreas Nicolaou and Despina Galataki
Category 5
- 1st prize: Eftychios Savvidis and Maria Dauty
- 2nd prize: Pantelis Papadopoulos, Eleni Flouri and Laura-Maria Fotiou
- 3rd prize: Nikolaos Sidorakis and Constantinos Gounaridis
Category 6
- 1st prize: Giorgos Kanakis — UMBRAL ARCHITECTURE
- 2nd prize: Florian Liakos, Alexios Visvinis and Irini Eleni Markantonatou
Category 7
- 1st prize: Niki Kourti, Savvas Kakalis, Iasonas Dounis and Emilia Kritiku
- 2nd prize: Andreas Constantinou and Irini Kleidira
- 3rd prize: Giorgos Apostolopoulos and Antonios Tasoulis
- Honourable mention: Aigli Patsalidou and Panayiotis Liasi
- Honourable mention: Myrto Vravosinou, Alexandra Vougia, Theodosis Isaias, Platon Isaias and Yiannantonis Moutsatsos
What happens next with the project
The architectural concepts must now move to the next stage — preparation for the implementation of specific residential developments. Chairman of the competition committee Iraklis Achniotis noted that all projects were evaluated according to the competition rules, objectively and impartially, with equal treatment of all participants.
For Cyprus, the programme is important not only as a standalone construction project, but also as part of a broader housing policy. In September 2026, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the selected standard designs had already been chosen and that work was moving on to the next stages. The affordable housing construction programme on state-owned land is therefore expected to add 460 new residential units to the market, which will be offered at affordable rental rates. The main target groups are young people, young families and residents with low and middle incomes.