New economic analysis suggests that the narrative of foreign investors “buying up” Cyprus is statistically overblown. Despite a visible surge in high-value international deals, non-EU buyers actually saw their market share shrink in 2025 as domestic demand reached historic highs.
According to a report by Fiona Mullen, director of Sapienta Economics (sourced via Cyprus Property News), local Cypriot buyers were the primary engine behind the market’s 17-year record performance last year.
The Breakdown: Who Really Bought Property in 2025?
While international headlines often focus on “Golden Visas” and foreign capital, the raw data from the Department of Lands and Surveys tells a different story of market composition.
| Buyer Category | 2025 Market Share | Trend Since 2023 |
| Cypriot Nationals | 59.5% | 📈 Increasing |
| Non-EU Nationals | 26.5% | 📉 Decreasing (from 31.7%) |
| EU Nationals | 14.0% | ↔️ Stable |
Mullen notes that the “fuss” regarding foreign dominance often stems from looking at the volume of international sales in isolation rather than comparing them to the even faster growth of the domestic sector.
A Seven-Year Shift: 2018 vs. 2025
The long-term trajectory reveals that local demand has outpaced foreign interest significantly over the past seven years.
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Cypriot Sales: Nearly doubled, jumping from 4,875 in 2018 to 10,859 in 2025.
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Non-EU Sales: Grew at a more moderate pace, moving from 2,939 to 4,809 in the same period.
The “Shadow” Ownership Debate
The analysis also addresses a controversial September report from the Cyprus Audit Office, which speculated that foreign ownership might be higher if one counts purchases made through Cyprus-registered companies. Mullen criticized this as “speculation without hard evidence,” suggesting that Parliament should instead leverage existing Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) records to provide the public with anonymized, factual nationality data.
Regional Nuance and the “Price Squeeze”
While locals lead in total numbers, the data highlights a “two-tier” market that creates significant pressure in coastal cities.
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The Nicosia Exception: Nicosia remains the only district where local buyers firmly dominate.
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The Coastal Reality: In Paphos, Limassol, and Larnaca, international buyers—who often pay a higher price per square meter—frequently outnumber locals in the residential segment.
Mullen warns that this creates a “ticking time-bomb” for social cohesion. As property prices are pushed up by high-spending international buyers, a growing cohort of younger Cypriots is being priced out of the market entirely.
“We have an ageing cohort that is asset-rich… and a smaller cohort that cannot afford to buy houses, getting angrier by the day,” Mullen cautioned, citing economist David McWilliams.
Source: Cyprus Property News