Filenews 15 January 2025
By decision of the Council of Ministers, the application period for securing a grant between €20,000-€50,000 under the scheme for young couples up to 41 years old is renewed.
The deadline for applications had expired at the end of last December, but because the 400 applications (which are expected to be approved) were not completed, an extension was granted.
Due to the difficulty observed in the submission of applications and which, in part, was attributed to the conditions that applicants must meet, the Ministry of Interior relaxed them, in order to include in the beneficiaries individuals/couples who were not previously covered.
One of the conditions that are differentiated concerns the area of the units that interested parties can build or buy. Specifically, while previously the roof in terms of area was limited to 100 square meters (sq.m.), now it rises to 150 sq.m.
Moreover, one of the issues which hindered some interested parties was the fact that the age of one of the couple was over 41 years of age. With the new arrangement, it is enough for only one member of the couple to be under 41.
The third condition that is differentiated concerns income criteria. For example, a single person's income could not exceed €25,000. What was suggested to the ministry by interested parties was that with an income of up to €25,000, banks simply did not grant a mortgage. Due to the fact that income criteria had been increased for other housing schemes (e.g. the Care Service increased them by €5,000 for each category), an adjustment was also made here to cover more people, since the same will apply to other housing schemes.
It should be noted that by the end of December 2024, 275 applications had been submitted, of which (for various reasons) 42 were deemed invalid and were not even forwarded for examination. The remaining 233 applications are in the process of being examined.
The amount of financial support was set at €20,000 for single persons, €45,000 for families without children and €50,000 for families with children, including single-parent families. The aim of the scheme is to facilitate those selected to cover part of the cost of building or purchasing a privately owned new or existing residence or improving an existing or new home acquired by donation or other legal means.
Regarding the housing plan of the Cyprus Land Development Agency (KOAG), 36 entrepreneurs showed interest, who in total are expected to build about 1,500 units.
At the same time, some of these entrepreneurs, instead of building units under this program, preferred to pay financial compensation in order to get an increased rate and dispose of the apartments they will build, not through the KOAG but as they judge themselves and at the price they want. From the implementation of this measure, the KOAG will receive €7 million. which it will use as part of its housing programs.
