Cypriots are gradually shifting toward renting and apartment living, but the traditional dream of owning a standalone home with a garden and parking remains deeply rooted, according to Eurostat’s “Housing in Europe - 2025 edition”.
The figures show that Cyprus still records one of the highest rates in the EU for people living in houses rather than flats, and for home ownership rather than renting, despite rising property prices, higher construction costs and tighter bank lending.
Cyprus near the top for living in houses
Across the EU in 2024, 51% of the population lived in houses and 48% in apartments. In two thirds of member states, houses are still the more common type of dwelling. Ireland had the highest share of people living in houses (90%), followed by the Netherlands and Belgium (both 77%) and Croatia (76%).
In Cyprus, 74.1% of people live in a house and 25% in an apartment, giving the island the fifth highest rate in the EU for house living.
At the other end of the scale, apartments dominate in Spain (65%), Latvia (64%) and Malta (63%). In Greece, 59.4% of the population lives in apartments and 40.6% in houses, a pattern closer to the Southern European urban model.
When it comes to tenure, 68% of people in the EU lived in an owner-occupied home in 2024, with the remaining 32% in rented accommodation. In Cyprus, 69.4% of people live in a home they own, while 30.6% rent.
Habit and culture still drive ownership
Commenting on the figures, Polys Kourousides, president of the Cyprus Association of Property Valuers, told Politis that habit and culture continue to play a decisive role in Cypriots’ preference for owning houses.
Beyond mentality, he notes, geography and settlement patterns matter. Large parts of the population live in semi-urban areas rather than dense city centres, where apartment blocks are more concentrated.
“The main reason,” he explains, “is the shorter distances to the centre compared with other EU countries.”
Eurostat data underline these differences between cities, suburbs and rural areas. In EU cities, 73% of people live in apartments and 27% in houses. In Cyprus, the picture is reversed: in urban areas, 33.2% live in apartments and 66% in houses.
For towns and suburbs, 56% of the EU population lives in houses and 43% in apartments. In Cyprus those shares are 78.3% and 21.2% respectively.
In rural areas, 83% of the EU population and a striking 93.4% of people in Cyprus live in houses, with only 16% and 5.2% respectively in apartments.
Kourousides adds that in more advanced economies such as Germany, Austria and Denmark, citizens are often more comfortable renting for long periods, while in Cyprus, “also due to our culture, the dream of most people is to buy a home rather than rent”.
Prices push more people to rent, but the ‘Cyprus dream’ persists
According to George Mountis, CEO of Delfi Partners, the ownership rate in Cyprus has been slipping in recent years under the weight of rising property prices, higher construction costs and constrained housing supply.
At the same time, households are asked to contribute more of their own capital to secure bank loans, while the higher borrowing costs of recent years have only begun to ease over the past year.
Mountis points out that people are also more reluctant to buy houses because, beyond the purchase price, owners face significant additional expenses for maintenance and upkeep.
Even so, he says, the traditional aspiration has hardly disappeared. Despite the gradual turn toward apartments, “for many, the ‘Cyprus dream’ of owning their own home with a pool, garden and double garage has not faded.”
“In the Cypriot mindset, home ownership remains central and is still among the highest in Europe,” he notes.
How big Cypriot homes are
The size of dwellings can be measured by the average number of rooms per person. In the EU in 2024, the average stood at 1.7 rooms per person. Malta recorded the highest figure, with 2.2 rooms per person, followed by Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands at 2.1.
In Cyprus, there were on average 2 rooms per person, placing the island among the countries with more spacious housing by this measure.
At the other end of the range are Slovakia and Romania (1.1 rooms per person), and Poland and Latvia (1.2).
A related indicator is the number of people per household. Across the EU in 2024, there were on average 2.3 people per household. The figure ranged from 3.1 in Slovakia, 2.9 in Poland and 2.7 in Croatia and Ireland, to 2.0 in Germany, Denmark and Sweden, and 1.9 in Finland and Lithuania.
In Cyprus, the average household size is 2.5 people, slightly above the EU average.
Housing quality and energy strain
Housing quality can be assessed in several ways. One is the degree of overcrowding. In the EU in 2024, 17% of the population lived in overcrowded dwellings, down from 19% in 2010.
In Cyprus, overcrowding is almost non-existent by EU standards. The island has the lowest rate in the Union, with only 2% of people living in overcrowded housing, compared with 41% in Romania, 39% in Latvia and 34% in Bulgaria. Malta (4%) and the Netherlands (5%) also report low overcrowding rates.
But housing quality is not only about space. The ability to keep a home adequately warm is a key measure of both living standards and energy vulnerability.
In 2024, 9% of the EU population said they could not afford to keep their home sufficiently warm. The highest rates were recorded in Bulgaria and Greece (both 19%), followed by Lithuania and Spain (18%). Finland, Slovenia and Poland reported the lowest levels, all below 3%.
In Cyprus, 14.6% of people say they cannot keep their home adequately warm, the sixth highest rate in the EU.
The figures suggest that while Cypriots enjoy relatively spacious and uncongested housing, a significant share of households struggles with energy costs, highlighting a growing tension between the enduring dream of home ownership and the realities of affordability and energy efficiency.