Cyprus records EU’s highest rate of under-occupied homes in 2025

Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus recorded the European Union’s highest share of people living in under-occupied homes in 2025, with 69.4 per cent of the population residing in properties considered larger than necessary for their households.

Rural housing

More than seven in 10 people in rural areas of Cyprus lived in under-occupied homes, placing the country among the EU members with the highest rural rates, alongside Ireland and Belgium.

Only the Netherlands recorded a higher rural rate, at 73.3 per cent.

Eurostat defines under-occupation as a situation in which a household has more rooms than are considered necessary for the number and ages of its residents. The classification does not mean that a property is empty.

For example, a family home occupied by a couple after their children have moved out may be classified as under-occupied.

EU comparison

Cyprus’s overall rate of 69.4 per cent was more than double the EU average of 33.4 per cent in 2025. Ireland followed with 66 per cent, while Malta recorded 63.2 per cent.

Eurostat data for 2024 had also placed Cyprus at the top of the EU, with around 70 per cent of the population living in homes considered larger than necessary. Ireland recorded 67 per cent and Malta 64 per cent that year.

Earlier figures showed that Cyprus had an average of two rooms per person, compared with 1.7 rooms across the EU. Almost three quarters of the population lived in houses rather than flats.

Across the EU, 41.3 per cent of rural residents lived in under-occupied homes in 2025, compared with 35.6 per cent of people in towns and suburbs and 26.2 per cent of city residents.

Overcrowding rate

Cyprus also had one of the lowest overcrowding rates in the EU. About 2.2 per cent of the population lived in overcrowded homes in 2025, compared with an EU average of 16.8 per cent.