State housing agency promoting three-pillared measures for affordable housing

The development programme of the Cyprus Land Development Corporation (CLDC) will move along three pillars in order for the organisation to provide affordable housing for purchase or rent to beneficiaries, Director General Eleni Symeonidou, has told the Cyprus News Agency, stressing the organisation's contribution to easing the housing shortage.

CLDC offers ready-made units for sale at an affordable price, rents apartments at an affordable rate, and administrates the incentives announced by the Ministry of the Interior, which aim at providing apartments to individuals at low prices.

Sale of ready-made houses and apartments

The first pillar of CLDC's development programme, according to Symeonidou, is "to offer housing solutions as we have been doing for almost 45 years, i.e. to build and sell houses and apartments to the middle and low-income earners," she noted.

At the moment, there are available apartments for sale in Kaimakli, a suburb close to Nicosia's centre. By February 2025, apartments in Larnaca will be ready for sale, at the price of €153.000 for a two-bedroom apartment, with solar panels and cooling-heating appliances included in the price.

During the next period, the corporation plans to build houses in Polemidia, near Limassol and Kokkinotrimithia, near Nicosia, and apartments in Nicosia suburbs Ayios Dometios, Aglantzia and Lakatamia.

Despite the affordable price of the units, Symeonidou said that there are problems in the approval of financing for the beneficiaries. "People are interested, they are submitting their applications, but there are some issues as regards financing", she said, noting that with the increase in interest rates and the amount of monthly installments, people are finding it difficult to get loans.

600 affordable apartments in Limassol in the coming years

CLDC has also been planning the construction of apartments in order to rent them, with a goal of producing in the next six years around 600 apartments in Limassol, where the housing shortage is more obvious and the rents are higher. The project is a result of a collaboration with Limassol Municipality.

According to Symeonidou, the construction of the first 138 units will start in October and the first apartments are expected to be available for rent 17 months later.

"Our proposal is to implement the same plan in two other plots of the Limassol Municipality, with a view to produce 600 units for rent in the next six years in Limassol, where we see that the problem is particularly acute in terms of rents," she added.

When asked, she noted that the rent is expected to be at least 30% below market rent, with the intention of going even lower.

Incentives for affordable housing for sale by individuals

The third level on which the CLDC is moving concerns the incentives announced by the government, which allow land developers or private individuals who develop their plots to benefit from an additional building factor, provided that part of the additional units they build will be sold to beneficiaries nominated by the CLDC, at the price determined by the CLDC, which is the same price that the organisation sells its own units.

Asked if there has been any interest from land developers in these incentives, Symeonidou said that CLDC has made a major information campaign, organising workshops and private meetings, noting that promotional activities will resume in September.

"Right now we think we have achieved to attract the interest of the construction sector. The first agreement in order to make use of the incentives was signed in July", she said, adding that the agreement concerns a development in Ipsonas, near Limassol district, and will provide six units of affordable housing. "We will sell apartments in Ipsonas at €123,000," she said.

(Source: CNA)