Cyprus property investment

Cyprus apartments let at a gross yield of about 5.5% and houses at about 3%, and residential prices rose 8.5% in the year to mid-2026. A new home worth €300,000 or more before VAT can support a permanent residence permit. The District Lands Offices received 13,288 sales contracts from January to August 2026, 14% more than a year earlier.

This guide covers what an investor can expect to earn, what a purchase costs, how rent is taxed and how an investment leads to residency. It covers the Republic of Cyprus. Property in the areas outside government control sits under a separate registration system, and none of the rules below apply to it.

Residency through property investment

A non-EU investor who puts at least €300,000 into Cyprus can apply for a permanent residence permit, the permit known as the Cyprus golden visa. Two of the four investment routes are property:

• a new house or apartment bought on a first sale from a development company, for at least €300,000 before VAT;
• offices, shops, hotels or other commercial property worth at least €300,000, where a resale property qualifies.

The investor needs a secured annual income of at least €50,000, measured gross, plus €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each child. On the house or apartment route the income has to come from abroad. Our page on Cyprus residency by investment sets out the other two routes and the documents.

The permit lets the investor and family live in Cyprus with no end date, provided they visit at least once every two years. It does not allow a job: neither the investor nor the spouse may be employed in Cyprus, apart from a directorship in the company they invested in. They can hold shares in a Cyprus company and receive dividends.

The permit does not lead to a passport by itself. Eight years of legal residence in Cyprus can lead to citizenship by naturalisation, with Greek at B1 and a pass in the civics examination.

A new home you buy as your main residence can carry VAT at 5% instead of 19%. The reduced rate covers the first 130 m² and the first €350,000 of value, where the whole purchase stays within 190 m² and €475,000. Above either limit the whole purchase pays 19%. You have to live in the home for ten years, and buyers of any nationality qualify. A home bought to let pays 19%.

Buyers from outside the EU and the EEA need permission to buy property in Cyprus. The District Administration of the district where the property sits deals with the application on form COMM 145. No fee is charged, and the Ministry of Interior puts the processing time at two to three weeks.

For an investor the limit matters more than the form. The permission covers one plot of up to 4,014 m² for a home, or up to two units, and where one of the two is not a home it can be a shop of up to 100 m² or an office of up to 250 m². A couple shares one allowance, so a non-EU buyer planning more than two units should take advice before signing.

What the permit and Cyprus tax residency give you

A Cyprus permit lets you live in an EU and euro area country. It does not give you the rights of an EU citizen, and it does not open visa-free travel to the Schengen area.

The tax advantages below come with Cyprus tax residency, which the permit does not give by itself. You become tax resident by spending more than 183 days a year in Cyprus, or at least 60 days if you meet the conditions of the 60-day rule.

The corporate tax rate is 15% from January 1, 2026, one of the lower rates in the EU. A tax resident who is not domiciled in Cyprus, a non-dom, pays no special defence contribution on dividends or interest for 17 years. Dividends are free of income tax for every individual, and the GeSY health contribution of 2.65% still applies to them.

Is buying property in Cyprus a good investment?

On prices since 2017, yes. Prices rose 8.5% in the year to the second quarter of 2026 on the Central Bank of Cyprus index, and apartments let at a gross yield of about 5.5%. There is no inheritance tax and no annual property tax.

The risks are real. Prices fell by about a third between 2008 and 2016 and passed their 2008 peak only in 2026. Houses yield about 3% gross, and a new home you do not live in carries VAT at 19%.

Residential prices have risen in every year since 2017 on the Central Bank's index.

Appreciating value

The Central Bank of Cyprus Residential Property Price Index rose in every year from 2017 to 2025, measured fourth quarter to fourth quarter. In the year to the second quarter of 2026 it rose 8.5%: 8.9% for flats and 5.7% for houses.

The index peaked in the third quarter of 2008 and fell 32% to its low in 2016. It passed the 2008 peak in the second quarter of 2026, so a buyer at the top of the last cycle waited 18 years to see the price again.

Rising rents

In the RICS index, rents rose faster than prices over the past year. The RICS Cyprus Property Index with KPMG recorded rental values up 7.4% for apartments and 5.3% for houses in the year to the second quarter of 2026, against price rises of 5.4% and 4.0% in the same index.

Rental yields in Cyprus

The RICS Cyprus Property Index with KPMG publishes gross rental yields for each type of property every quarter. These were its figures for the second quarter of 2026, set against a year earlier:

Property type	Q2 2025	Q2 2026
Apartments	5.41%	5.51%
Houses	2.97%	3.01%
Offices	5.61%	5.63%
Retail	5.75%	5.78%
Warehouses	4.24%	4.15%
Holiday apartments	5.75%	5.82%
Holiday houses	2.79%	2.85%

These are gross yields: the market rent of a notional building as a share of its market value, measured in the main urban centres of the government-controlled area. Houses yield a little over half what apartments do.

A worked example. A €300,000 resale apartment let at 5.5% earns €16,500 a year. The transfer fee of €8,600 and our legal fee of €2,500 plus VAT, €2,975 in all, take the money spent to €311,575, so the yield on it is 5.3% before running costs and tax.

Running costs come off next: municipal charges, management, the months a property stands empty, and income tax and GeSY at 2.65% of the gross rent. The next section sets out how rent is taxed.

Cyprus rental income taxes

An individual landlord deducts 20% of the rent and the interest on any loan taken to buy the property, then pays income tax on the rest at the normal rates. The first €22,000 of taxable income a year is taxed at 0%, and the rates rise in bands to 35% above €72,000.

A landlord who is not tax resident in Cyprus still pays Cyprus income tax on rent from property here. Every individual landlord, resident or not, pays the GeSY health contribution of 2.65% of the gross rent. The special defence contribution on rent was abolished on January 1, 2026, and a company pays corporate tax of 15% on its rental profit.

Taxes Cyprus does not charge

Cyprus abolished its annual immovable property tax on January 1, 2017, and estate duty for deaths from January 1, 2000. Owners still pay municipal or community charges, which vary by area. An owner who is taxed in another country, the UK for example, can still owe inheritance tax there on a Cyprus property.

What it costs to buy and sell

On top of the price, a buyer pays VAT or a transfer fee, never both. A new home bought from a developer carries VAT at 19%, or 5% on part of the price where it will be your main residence.

A resale home carries no VAT and pays a transfer fee at the District Lands Office instead. The rates run from 3% to 8% by price band, and a transfer without VAT gets a 50% reduction, so the rates paid run from 1.5% to 4%. On a €300,000 resale home the fee comes to €8,600.

For contracts signed on or after January 1, 2026, no stamp duty is payable. For contracts signed before 2026, the correct duty is paid to the Tax Department before registration.

A Land Registry search certificate costs €10 for one district or €20 for all of Cyprus, and our legal fee for a purchase starts at €2,500 plus VAT. Our guide to buying property sets out the costs of a purchase step by step.

When you sell, capital gains tax is charged at 20% on the gain from Cyprus property, after a lifetime exemption of €30,000, or €150,000 on a main home that qualifies.

Cyprus property prices

In October 2026 the median asking price of apartments listed on DevelopersCyprus was €469,900, or €3,960 per m². For villas it was €850,000, or €3,730 per m². These are asking prices on one platform, not completed sales.

Prices differ widely between districts. On the same platform the median asking price of an apartment was €595,000 in Limassol, €385,000 in Paphos, €339,000 in Nicosia and €300,000 in Larnaca. Our guide to real estate in Cyprus follows the market trends by district.