Nicosia, Cyprus. Ask Wire CEO Pavlos Loizou says Cyprus’ housing problem is caused by the failure to use existing land effectively, not by a shortage of land. He said idle urban plots are keeping supply tight and supporting higher prices.
Underused land
Loizou said Cyprus “does not lack land” but “lacks the effective use of land,” citing data collected by Ask Wire.
In the Acropolis area of Nicosia, he said only 53% of the permitted building coefficient is being used. He defined the building coefficient as “the ratio of allowed floor area to plot size,” with the remainder described as “permitted, but not built.”
According to his figures, this leaves more than 1 million square metres of unused buildable floor area, enough to provide about 10,000 additional apartments in a single central urban area.
Findings in Limassol
Loizou said a similar analysis of the Papas area in Limassol points in the same direction, with more than 18,000 additional residential units potentially created across the two urban cores in Nicosia and Limassol if existing planning capacity were fully used.
He described the issue as “not a marginal inefficiency” but something “at the core of the housing problem.”
For Loizou, the main constraint is “on supply, not demand,” as Cyprus continues to attract both local buyers and foreign capital.
“What is missing is activation,” he said, adding that “land is being held, not developed.”
Price trend
Loizou said recent price developments are consistent with this view.
Based on Ask Wire’s analysis of Land Registry transactions, the median price of urban residential land in Cyprus rose from €203 per buildable square metre in the first quarter of 2021 to €257 in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of about 27%.