15,000 APPLICATIONS FROM FOREIGNERS TO ACQUIRE REAL ESTATE IN FIVE YEARS

 Filenews 29 September 2025 - by Vasos Vassiliou

About 15,000 applications have been submitted by third-country nationals in the last five years with the aim of obtaining a license to acquire immovable property.

The relevant data were given by the Minister of the Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, in response to a question from the MP of Famagusta of DISY, Nikos Georgiou.

Most of the applications that have been submitted concern the district of Paphos and amount to 5,477. It is followed by Limassol with 4,316, Larnaca with 3,479, Nicosia with 886, Famagusta with 816 and the district of Kyrenia with 4.

Most applications were submitted in the year 2023 and amount to 3,524.

The applications per year and province are as follows:

Commenting on a remark by the DISY MP about delays in the examination of applications, the minister states that the competent offices of the District Administrations that are responsible for the examination of applications are staffed with one person and in some cases are partially assisted with a second person when the need is observed.

Answering another aspect of Mr. Georgiou's question, the minister states that the average required examination time ranges between one and two months. It acknowledges, however, that "in some cases there may be some delays due to workload, as well as due to the necessary consultation with other Departments/Services and with the applicants themselves for the correct and complete submission of the necessary supporting documents".

The MP referred to "increased demand for the acquisition of immovable property in Cyprus by third-country nationals, observing that this raises reasonable questions as to the management of the relevant applications, the workload of the district administrations and the efficiency of the administrative process, in accordance with the provisions of the Acquisition of Immovable Property (Foreigners) Law (Cap. 109)''.