Housing affordability pressures in Cyprus and across the EU are prompting calls for tighter controls on property purchases by third-country nationals, faster licensing and a unified housing authority, according to participants at the 4th Akel economy forum in Nicosia.
The discussion, held under the theme ‘Mass Real Estate Purchase and Housing Crisis: Right or Privilege?’, brought together Akel MP Aristos Damianou, MEP Ilaria Salis, scientific and technical chamber (Etek) chairman Constantinos Constanti and association of building contractors (Oseok) president Stelios Gavriil.
As mentioned at Politis, they warned that despite national and European measures, the housing problem continues to deepen, with rising sale prices and rents pushing low- and middle-income households further out of the market.
Salis said demand pressures in Cyprus mirror those seen in many Italian cities, adding that the housing crisis “is something the entire EU has been facing in recent years”.
She noted that Brussels is preparing an action plan for mid-December, although, as she put it, there has been “no real consultation” with the European Parliament so far.
A special committee on the housing crisis is expected to deliver a pessimistic report, she added, since current EU policy “protects private homes, promotes the free market and satisfies contractor interests”, without addressing rent regulation or public and social housing investment.
The aim, she said, is to treat housing as a social right and curb “unreasonable profits”.
Moreover, she argued that housing policies should include democratic and collective contracts, rent caps tied to incomes, with prices not exceeding 30 per cent of monthly salaries, and limits on short-term rentals.
She also called for large-scale investment in public and social housing, suggesting that new urban projects should include a significant share of non-market units, financed partly through European funds.
Citizens, she said, should have a direct role in policy-making through associations and community-based housing models. She also stressed the need for EU-wide rules protecting households from eviction.
Meanwhile, local bodies presented their own proposals. These include restricting and monitoring property sales to third-country nationals, bringing vacant units back onto the market, speeding up planning permits and creating a single coordinating authority for housing policy.
Etek suggested lowering VAT to 5 per cent for renovation works, simplifying the ‘renovate-to-rent’ scheme, using local plans to encourage affordable construction and taxing idle land.
Damianou pointed to Akel’s broader housing policy package, which includes two recent bills aimed at widening access to affordable homes.
Asked how restrictions on foreign buyers might affect the market, he said that in an open economy businesses tend to “reorient themselves based on the opportunities available”.
With the golden passport scheme now scrapped, a programme the government itself deemed unsustainable, Damianou argued that the economy can shift towards more socially balanced development, including affordable housing.
For his part, Gavriil said improvements to existing housing schemes are needed so more beneficiaries qualify, while young couples should receive easier access to financing, especially regarding down-payments for bank loans.
Gavriil finally emphasised the need for a ten-year national housing strategy.