Ask Wire reports underutilization of urban land as primary driver of Cyprus housing crisis

Pavlos Loizou, CEO of the real estate analytics firm Ask Wire, states that the housing shortage in Cyprus is caused by a failure to utilize existing urban land rather than a lack of available space. Data from the Acropolis area in Nicosia shows that only 53 percent of the permitted building coefficient is currently being used, leaving over 1 million square meters of potential floor area undeveloped. This unused capacity could theoretically provide approximately 10,000 additional apartments in this district alone. A similar analysis of the Papas area in Limassol suggests that over 18,000 residential units could be created across both Nicosia and Limassol if existing planning capacity were fully realized. Loizou argues that the primary constraint on the market is supply, not demand, as land remains held rather than developed. Analysis of Land Registry records indicates that the median price of urban residential land in Cyprus rose by approximately 27 percent, from 203 euros per buildable square meter in the first quarter of 2021 to 257 euros in the first quarter of 2026. This trend of rising prices is particularly pronounced in Limassol.