Cyprus' housing price-to-income ratio stood at 91.61 points in 2025, remaining below its long-term average, according to Eurostat data published on Monday.
The indicator, which measures how housing prices compare with household incomes relative to their long-term average since 2000, edged down slightly from 91.63 points in 2024. It stood at 92.03 points in 2023, 90.10 in 2022 and 89.59 in 2021.
The index had reached 95.38 points in 2020, compared with 92.30 in 2019 and 93.13 in 2018. In 2017, it stood at 99.36 points, rising slightly to 99.71 in 2016.
EU housing price-to-income ratio rises 6.8% since 2015
Across the European Union, the housing price-to-income ratio was 6.8% higher in 2025 than in 2015, indicating that house prices increased faster than household incomes over the decade.
The trend varied considerably across member states, with the ratio increasing in 17 EU countries and declining in the remaining 10.
Portugal recorded the largest increase between 2015 and 2025, at 60.8%, followed by the Netherlands at 34.3%, Hungary at 26.5%, Czechia at 25.8% and Spain at 24.5%.
At the other end of the scale, Romania recorded the sharpest decline, at 42.8%. Finland followed with a decrease of 25.2%, while Bulgaria registered a fall of 16.2%.
Eurostat stressed that these changes do not rank countries according to the absolute cost of housing. Instead, the indicator tracks how house prices have evolved in relation to household income per capita.
The ratio increases when house prices rise faster than income, decreases when they grow more slowly, and remains unchanged when both develop at the same rate.
EU indicator records two peaks since 2000
Looking at the standardised housing price-to-income ratio, which compares the indicator with its long-term average since 2000, Eurostat identified two distinct peaks.
The first occurred in 2007, when the ratio stood 7.9% above its long-term average. The second was recorded in 2022, when it was 7.4% higher.
Between these two peaks, the indicator fell to 6.4% below its long-term average in 2014.
Following the 2022 peak, the ratio declined in both 2023 and 2024. In 2025, it stood marginally above its long-term average, by just 0.03%.
According to Eurostat, the standardised housing price-to-income ratio is also used as a supporting indicator in the EU's Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure, helping to identify potential imbalances in housing markets.
Housing affordability involves more than house prices
Eurostat cautioned that these indicators capture only one aspect of housing affordability.
Other relevant factors include the number of years of income required to purchase a home, the cost of mortgage financing and ongoing housing expenses as a proportion of disposable household income.
The figures therefore provide an indication of how housing prices have developed relative to incomes, rather than a complete picture of the affordability of housing across Europe.
