Activity in the Cyprus property market reached a record high in 2023. At the same time, apartments have become the most popular investment option on the island.
According to a report by Deloitte, a record was set in terms of both value (€3.4 billion) and volume (13.2 thousand transactions) of residential property, with annual growth rates exceeding 4% in both cases.
The average value of residential property transactions in Cyprus in 2023 was €259 thousand, compared to €257 thousand a year earlier. However, the average transaction value in 2023 was lower compared to the peak of €271 thousand recorded in 2019.
By city:
- 43% of the total residential property transactions took place in Limassol. In this Cypriot city, 3.7 thousand residential properties were sold for a total of €1.5 billion.
- The housing market in Paphos was the second most active, with 2.8 thousand transactions worth €0.7 billion.
- Nicosia rounded off the top three. A total of 2.8 thousand transactions worth €0.5 billion were registered here in 2023.
Interestingly, the average transaction value in Nicosia was €184,000, less than half of the €395,000 in Limassol and 28 per cent lower than the €256,000 in Paphos.
New residential properties for which title deeds have not yet been issued accounted for 69% of total transactions in the Cypriot housing market. At the same time, 45% of new properties were located in Limassol, followed by Paphos (21%) and Larnaca (15%).
Flats accounted for 62% of the total market value of the housing market in 2023 and 72% of the total number of transactions in this category. The ratio of flats to houses, both in terms of value and volume, remained at the same level as in 2022 and 2021.
2-bedroom flats were the most popular with investors in 2023, while studios and one-bedroom flats were the second most popular. The majority of flats sold in 2023 were less than 200m2.
Furthermore, the majority of flats sold in 2023 (77%) were priced around €250,000, which also seems to correlate with the most popular flat sizes, while 17% of flat sales were for properties priced between €250,000 and €500,000.
The number of flat transactions increased from 8.9 thousand in 2022 to 9.5 thousand in 2023, mainly due to an increase in the number of transactions involving more expensive properties, priced between €250 thousand and €1 million.
Furthermore, 46% of the houses sold in 2023 had a value of less than €250,000, 39% between €250,000 and €500,000, 11% between €500,000 and €1 million, while only 4% of the properties were worth more than €1 million.
A similar trend was observed in the sales of flats: in 2023, compared to 2022, the price structure shifted in favour of more expensive properties.