Cyprus’ housing market is showing renewed signs of pressure, with house prices and rents rising faster than the EU average, even though households on the island remain less burdened by housing costs than many of their European counterparts, according to Eurostat data.

The figures, drawn from Eurostat’s new Housing Dashboard and its Housing in Europe 2025 publication, point to an uneven picture. Cyprus continues to record strong housing investment and construction activity, but affordability pressures are becoming more visible, particularly for younger households and those trying to enter the market. 

House prices in Cyprus rose by 6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, slightly above the EU average of 5.5 per cent. Rents also increased faster than the bloc average, rising by 4.2 per cent year-on-year in March 2026, compared with 2.9 per cent in the EU. 

At the same time, the house price-to-income ratio in Cyprus increased by 0.6 per cent in 2024, while the EU recorded a 1.7 per cent decline. This shows that, despite Cyprus’ comparatively favourable position in several affordability indicators, access to housing continues to come under pressure. 

Eurostat launched the Housing Dashboard to bring together data on housing affordability, construction, living conditions and households’ environmental impact. The tool allows comparisons across EU and EFTA countries, as well as the EU and euro area, through interactive charts covering the economy and finance, population and social conditions, businesses, and environment and energy. 

Across Europe, these pressures have been building for years. House prices in the EU rose by 53 per cent between 2010 and 2024, while rents increased by 25 per cent. Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania recorded the sharpest rises in house prices, at 231 per cent, 228 per cent and 179 per cent, respectively. Rents rose fastest in Estonia, Lithuania, Ireland and Hungary. 

Cyprus, however, remains an exception over the longer term. Together with Italy, it was one of only two EU countries where house prices did not increase between 2010 and 2024, even though the latest dashboard figures show a renewed upward trend. 

Despite the recent rise in prices and rents, Cyprus still compares favourably with the EU on the direct cost of housing. The homeownership rate stood at 69.2 per cent in 2025, slightly above the EU average of 68.5 per cent, while the share of people facing excessive housing costs was 2.4 per cent, well below the EU’s 7.7 per cent. 

Eurostat’s broader housing publication also showed that households in Cyprus spent the lowest share of disposable income on housing in the EU in 2024, at 11 per cent, compared with an EU average of 19 per cent. Greece recorded the highest share, at 36 per cent, followed by Denmark at 26 per cent, and Sweden and Germany, both at 25 per cent. 

Cyprus also ranked among the least pressured countries in terms of housing cost overburden, which measures the share of people living in households where total housing costs exceed 40 per cent of disposable income. In 2024, Cyprus and Croatia had the lowest overburden rates in cities, both at 3 per cent, while Cyprus recorded the lowest rate in rural areas, at 1 per cent. 

By contrast, Greece had the highest housing cost overburden rates in both cities and rural areas, at 29 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively, showing the sharp differences between EU countries in how housing costs affect households. 

However, Cyprus’ relatively low-cost burden does not mean the market is free of strain. Rent or mortgage arrears affected 4.6 per cent of the population in Cyprus, compared with 3 per cent in the EU, showing that some households are struggling to keep up with payments even if the overall burden remains lower than elsewhere. 

The contrast with other member states remains wide. In Eurostat’s wider 2024 data, Greece had the highest share of people living in households with arrears on mortgage, rent or utility bills, at 43 per cent, followed by Bulgaria at 19 per cent and Romania at 15 per cent. The lowest shares were recorded in the Czech Republic, at 3 per cent, and the Netherlands and Poland, both at 4 per cent.

Cyprus also stands out for the structure of its housing stock. Overcrowding remained very limited, with only 2.2 per cent of homes considered overcrowded, compared with 16.8 per cent across the EU. Eurostat’s broader publication similarly showed that Cyprus had the lowest overcrowding rate in the EU in 2024, at 2 per cent, followed by Malta at 4 per cent and the Netherlands at 5 per cent. 

At the other end of the scale, the highest overcrowding rates were recorded in Romania, at 41 per cent, Latvia at 39 per cent, and Bulgaria at 34 per cent. 

However, Cyprus also recorded one of the clearest signs of housing mismatch in Europe. Under-occupied homes remain particularly common, with 69.4 per cent of homes having more space than the households living in them are considered to need. This is more than double the EU average of 33.4 per cent. 

Eurostat’s 2024 data also placed Cyprus at the top of the EU ranking for under-occupied homes, ahead of Ireland at 67 per cent and Malta at 64 per cent, while Romania, Latvia and Greece recorded the lowest shares. 

This points to one of the main contradictions in the Cypriot market. Housing pressure is about how much is being built or how much households spend overall. It is also about whether the available housing stock matches the needs of younger people, renters and first-time buyers. 

Investment activity, meanwhile, remains strong. Housing accounted for 40.8 per cent of total investment in Cyprus in 2025, compared with 23.5 per cent in the EU. Residential building permits also rose sharply, increasing by 45.4 per cent in 2025, against 5.2 per cent across the bloc. 

Cyprus also had the highest housing investment as a share of GDP in the EU in 2024, at 8 per cent. Italy followed with 6.8 per cent, while Germany stood at 6.2 per cent. The EU average was 5.3 per cent, with the lowest shares recorded in Poland, Latvia and Greece. 

Construction costs have also increased across the bloc. Between 2010 and 2024, construction producer prices in the EU rose by 56 per cent, with the sharpest increases recorded in Hungary, at 172 per cent, Bulgaria, at 145 per cent, and Romania, at 137 per cent. Cyprus was among the countries with the smallest increases, at 25 per cent, after Greece and Italy. 

The gross value added of construction in Cyprus stood at 5.6 per cent of the economy in 2024, marginally above the EU average of 5.5 per cent, while the total capital stock of housing reached €42.3 billion in 2023. 

The pressure on younger households is also reflected in the age at which they leave home. In Cyprus, young people left their parental home at an average age of 27 in 2025, slightly later than the EU average of 26.3 years. 

The data also point to the wider environmental footprint of households. Household greenhouse gas emissions in Cyprus stood at 1.8 tonnes per capita in 2024, above the EU average of 1.5 tonnes.  

Meanwhile, 83.6 per cent of the population was connected to secondary wastewater treatment in 2023, compared with 80.7 per cent in the EU. 

Finally, household energy taxes in Cyprus accounted for 47 per cent of total energy taxes in 2022, also above the EU average of 42.6 per cent.