PARLIAMENT MOVES TO RESTRICT FOREIGN PROPERTY PURCHASES AND HALT FORECLOSURES IN FINAL PRE-ELECTION ACT - in-cyprus 6/4
The House of Representatives is holding an extraordinary session today, Holy Monday, in its last sitting before it dissolves ahead of the 24 May parliamentary elections.
MPs will vote on two government bills and 19 proposals relating to non-performing loans and foreclosures. Also on the agenda are proposals on property acquisition by foreign nationals and a bill on the social participation, inclusion and independent living of persons with disabilities.
The session will further address the regulation of personal mobility devices. MPs will also decide the fate of two laws sent back for reconsideration by the executive branch — one on payment account fees, switching and access for micro-enterprises, and the Consumer Protection Law.
Foreign property curbs race against dissolution deadline
The foreign property proposals are among the most politically charged items on today’s agenda. Lawmakers are pushing to pass sweeping restrictions on foreign purchases before parliament dissolves, with a unified bill expected within 15 days.
The push follows years of largely unchecked foreign buying that MPs say has inflated property prices and raised national security concerns in a country still divided by occupation.
It also comes in the shadow of Cyprus’s golden passport scandal, in which front men purchased large tracts of property to secure citizenship, helping fuel a real estate bubble that subsequently collapsed.
The proposed legislation would set limits on the size of land foreigners can buy and introduce bans on acquisitions near agricultural zones, critical infrastructure, military bases, beaches and ports.
Purchases of homes and commercial premises would remain permitted. The Interior Ministry is backing additional criteria including a requirement to hold the property for at least five years and to remain resident in Cyprus for the same period.
However, the premise that foreign buyers are dominating the market may be overstated. According to an analysis by Fiona Mullen, director of Sapienta Economics, non-EU nationals accounted for 26.5% of property contracts of sale in 2025, down from 31.7% in 2023, while Cypriots accounted for 59.5% of purchases last year.
Sales to Cypriots nearly doubled from 4,875 in 2018 to 10,859 in 2025, outpacing the rise in non-EU purchases from 2,939 to 4,809 over the same period.
Mullen recommended that parliament use existing beneficial owner records to provide anonymised nationality data to the Land Registry before legislating, noting that in most cities outside Nicosia, sales to foreigners already exceed those to Cypriots according to Cystat data, with non-Cypriots paying more per square metre — a dynamic that, she wrote, pushes up prices for everyone.
