Demand for student accommodation is rising due to a growing student population and limited availability of organised student halls, Marinos Kynigirou, president of the Cyprus Real Estate Registration Council, told CNA, stressing the importance of searching for housing early.
One-bedroom apartment rents in Nicosia range from €600 to €900, according to Kynigirou, while in Limassol prices reach as high as €1,500. Rents in Larnaca and Paphos are roughly in line with Nicosia, while in Paralimni they do not exceed €700.
The heads of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) and the University of Cyprus's student affairs services also outlined their institutions' housing plans to CNA. Vasilis Protopapas, head of CUT's Student Affairs and Welfare Service, said the university's goal, once its own halls are completed within a year or two, is to guarantee a room to every first-year student who wants one and to every student facing financial hardship. Kleanthis Pissarides, head of the equivalent service at the University of Cyprus, said the university is planning further halls with a total capacity of around 900 new beds, and expects the first 500, developed in cooperation with the state, to be available within three years.
'Early searching is very important'
Kynigirou told CNA that demand rises continuously, particularly at the start of each academic year, though he cautioned it was still too early to compare this year with last. Areas near universities remain among the most active rental markets in the country, he said.
"Nicosia is the country's largest student market. Limassol has the highest prices. This is because many foreign workers and businesses are also seeking rentals there. Larnaca and Paphos are also seeing increased demand," he said, linking the rise in those two cities to their broader development.
According to Kynigirou, the increased demand stems both from a growing student population and from the limited availability of organised student halls. Citing Statistical Service figures, he noted that tertiary education enrolments reached 57,889 in the 2023-2024 academic year, a 9.4% increase on the previous year. In Limassol, around 700 student housing applications are submitted annually, while places in organised halls remain significantly fewer than that.
Kynigirou said the student housing market depends heavily on the available apartment stock, with organised student hall supply limited and varying significantly between districts. He said two-bedroom apartments in Nicosia typically cost 20% to 30% more than one-bedroom units, while the top rent for a three-bedroom apartment reaches around €1,700.
In Limassol, he said, costs are among the highest in Cyprus, with two-bedroom apartments reaching up to €2,000 and three-bedroom apartments up to €2,700. In Larnaca and Paphos, one and two-bedroom rents are similar to Nicosia, while three-bedroom rents run 15% to 20% below Nicosia's top rates. In Paralimni, where fewer schools are located, one-bedroom rents do not exceed €700, two-bedroom rents top out at around €900, which also serves as the starting price for three-bedroom units.
Kynigirou said the core problem is not simply the number of available properties but the limited supply of housing priced within reach of students and their families. "There is significant difficulty finding accommodation within the budget set by students and their families," he said, attributing this to a shortage of small, furnished, functional apartments at affordable prices, particularly in areas near universities. He said students compete for housing with workers, families and people moving to Cyprus for employment, keeping prices high, pushing many students to search further from campus or share accommodation with other students. "Early searching is very important. The cheapest and best properties get taken quickly, especially before the academic year begins," he said.
CUT: 'Every year better than the last'
"This year things are better than last year, and every year is better in terms of housing, precisely because we have made decisions on building halls and on rent subsidies," Protopapas told CNA. He said CUT has students in two cities, Limassol and Paphos, and will soon have a presence in Larnaca as well.
In Paphos, he said, the university uses the Paphos Municipality's student hall next to its faculty building, accommodating a large number of students there, along with additional apartments owned by the municipality in the city centre. Students facing financial difficulty who cannot secure a place in the halls receive a rent subsidy of €250 per month for 10 months, from September to June. He said demand in Paphos still exceeds the roughly 180 beds available, which is why many students there receive the subsidy. CUT's annual budget for rent subsidies stands at €800,000.
"In Limassol the situation is better, because the Archbishopric's hall has existed there for some years," Protopapas said, offering 300 beds, of which the university allocates 200. He added that from this year the university will also have part of its own new hall available, increasing capacity further, and that the rent subsidy is also available in Limassol for students who cannot find space in the halls, have financial difficulties, or are first-year students.
Protopapas said priority for hall rooms goes first to students who meet financial-need criteria, followed by first-year students. He said the university's target, once its own halls are complete in one to two years, is to guarantee rooms to all first-year students who want one and to all students facing financial hardship, with combined capacity reaching 500 beds in CUT's own new Limassol hall, 200 at the Archbishopric hall in Limassol, and 200 in Paphos, for a total of 900 rooms. He noted that most CUT students come from other cities, with only 35% originating from Limassol, and that student interest in halls runs at roughly double the available beds. He said rents at the halls are set at either €350 a month for students meeting income criteria, in both Paphos and Limassol, or €500 to €550 for rooms without the social rate, with all rents covering utilities including electricity, water, internet and cleaning. He also noted growing private-sector development in Limassol linked to the presence of private universities, including a nearly completed private hall of about 95 rooms in the city centre, with studio rents starting from €650, which he described as reasonable compared to the wider Limassol rental market.
University of Cyprus: 900 new beds planned
The University of Cyprus's own halls offer 208 rooms, allocated on socio-economic criteria "precisely because the number is very small and the rents we offer are very low," Pissarides told CNA. He said the university does not offer a rent subsidy, with hall rents instead set at around €150 per month including utilities such as electricity and water, reserved for students in genuine need.
Pissarides confirmed plans for further halls with a total capacity of around 900 new beds, though the project is awaiting the necessary state approvals before proceeding. He said the university expects the first available halls in around three years, having split the project into two phases, an initial 500 beds followed by the remainder, contingent on cooperation with the state. Asked whether the university helps students find accommodation near campus, he said the university assists students, particularly first-time arrivals, in searching for housing, but does not offer direct financial assistance or source rooms on students' behalf.
Source: CNA
