On Thursday 23rd January the Cyprus Statistical Service published a new report on the number of building permits issued in the island state.
According to the authority, the number of permits fell significantly by 59.3% to 183 in August 2024, compared to 450 in the same month of 2023. These permits had a total value of 87.4 million euros and a total surface area of 66.2 thousand m2. A total of 323 residential units will be built under these permits.
Experts have noted that this trend is directly related to the transfer of powers to the new regional local government organisations (EOA). In addition, problems with the new integrated information system, Hippodamus, also played an important role in the noticeable drop in the volume of building permits issued in August. As a result, the processing of applications was significantly delayed.
On the other hand, 5,062 building permits were issued in Cyprus in January-August 2002, compared to 4,662 in the corresponding period of the previous year.
This represents an increase of 8.6%. The total value of these permits increased by 16.3 per cent, the total floor area by 18 per cent and the number of residential units by 16.2 per cent. By project category, the number of residential building permits in Cyprus increased by 5.3 per cent in the first eight months of 2024, non-residential buildings by 29 per cent and roads by 8.8 per cent. On the other hand, the number of permits issued for land division decreased by 4.3%.
On a year-on-year basis, in January-August 2024, an increase in the area of licensed projects was recorded in all Cypriot cities except Nicosia (-5.8%). In the vacant areas of Famagusta, the number increased by 204.5%, in Paphos by 36.1%, in Larnaca by 59.1% and in Limassol by 6.6%.