Types of houses available in Cyprus
Like most countries, the Cypriot real estate market largely divides into houses and apartments.
However, these can be divided into sub-categories that vary wildly. Understanding the property language will make your search for the right home that much easier.
Apartments in Cyprus
Whether you want a penthouse overlooking the Mediterranean or a flat above a village shop, there’s a wide selection of apartments for sale in Cyprus.
At the higher end of the market, financially and literally, Limassol has seen some sensational high rises in recent years, seeing it dubbed Cyprus’s answer to Manhattan. Two-bedroom apartments in the 38-storey Limassol One start at €1.7m, but you can spend considerably more on a Limassol apartment if you want to.
For an apartment to rent out to tourists (bearing in mind the strict rules for doing so), studio apartments in Ayia Napa start at under €100,000.
Any built-up area in Cyprus will have apartments available, whether in blocks or above commercial property. These can start from as little as €60,000.
With the benefits of easy maintenance and all the amenities included within established resorts, marinas or golf course developments, the advantages of apartment living can be a revelation for those downsizing from family homes in their home country. They are not necessarily cheaper than villas or houses; one-bedroom apartments in the upmarket Aphrodite Hills development start at over €250,000.
Buyers from the UK will be relieved that, while Cyprus maintains some aspects of British property law, it rarely uses the leasehold system for residential property. Apartments are sold freehold with the common parts of the building – roofs, sewage system, landscaping etc – paid via “communal fees”. When buying an apartment your lawyer should ensure that the management committee is active and all is paid up to date. You can find more details on the law relating to jointly owned buildings here.
Houses in Cyprus
If you define a house as “a residential property consisting of a ground floor and one or more upper storeys”, houses in Cyprus include villas, townhouses, stone houses, maisonettes and duplexes.
Whichever you choose, your lawyer should ensure that it is built to withstand earthquakes – which are rare but can happen in Cyprus.
It can also be sensible in today’s world to consider solar power when buying. The Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) operates in Cyprus and will be helpful for all such questions.
Stone houses in Cyprus
Before modern building materials most homes in Cyprus were made of stone and wood. They were built to last (there are remains of 9,000-year-old homes in Cyprus!) and to many buyers, look beautiful, with honey-coloured stone, red-tiled roofs and maybe a wooden balcony or terrace too.
If you are looking for this type of house to buy in Cyprus you can find them in the villages from around €150,000, or in the older parts of Cyprus’s towns and cities.
You may find that while you see them as “old and beautiful”, local people simply see them as old. That offers the option to buy a bargain fixer-upper.
Townhouses, duplexes and maisonettes in Cyprus
For those who prefer their resort property low-rise, there are plenty of options for house styles in Cyprus which are two-storey, often in developments in rows around a communal pool, each with a small garden.
They can be excellent for holiday homes – so choose carefully if looking for permanent neighbours.
Such homes have many of the benefits of apartments but without people living above or below you. They will have less privacy than a villa, but lower running costs too.
Villas in Cyprus
Villas in Cyprus are detached properties, with a garden and maybe a swimming pool. Villa life offers more privacy than apartments and townhouses, with the option to try a very different sort of gardening to northern Europe.
A potential advantage of villas in Cyprus is that they tend to be in the hills, inland from the resorts and therefore a little cooler – avoiding the humidity of the coast. The disadvantages – such as not having resort facilities maintained – can easily be overcome by employing a management company.
There are villas in the Troodos Mountains, in the villages around Paphos and in the resorts of Famagusta. For a picture-perfect villa that’s ready to welcome you, you will be spending upwards of €250,000. Although there are fixer uppers on Your Overseas Home from €160,000 there are also more than 1,500 villas for sale in Cyprus on Your Overseas Home from over €500,000.
Fun fact: Traditional Cypriot houses included a “dichoro”, a large room that served multiple purposes. It usually combined a bedroom with either a living area or dining room.