Laying the foundation for a European affordable and sustainable housing strategy will be among Cyprus’ key priorities set out for the approaching EU Presidency, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said in Copenhagen on Monday.

“Cyprus’ goal is to lay the foundations, so that we facilitate the adoption of a European affordable housing strategy, including sustainable housing policies and the incorporation of best practices, with an emphasis on affordable housing,” Ioannou said at the Affordable Housing conference.

During the conference, Ioannou emphasised the need for more drastic measures to be taken at the EU level, with the objective of providing financial and technical support to governments for the development of housing policies.

Ioannou also held meetings with the Dutch Minister of Housing Mona Keijzer and her French counterpart Valerie Letard, with whom he discussed the EU-wide housing challenge and the completion of the European roadmap for affordable housing.

The three ministers highlighted persisting obstacles in the EU-wide implementation of housing policies, which they said was mainly due to bureaucratic procedures.

They stressed the need for the housing strategy to be tailored to the specific needs of each member state, emphasising the important role of governments in facilitating cooperation between public and private sectors.

Ioannou stressed that, once completed, the implementation of the measures included in the housing plan would be one of Cyprus’ main objectives during the upcoming Presidency.

Between 2010 and 2022, housing rents in the EU rose by an average 18 per cent and house prices by 47 per cent. Meanwhile, 10.6 per cent of EU citizens lived in households where more than 40 per cent of disposable income was spent on housing.

In the first quarter of 2025, Cyprus recorded a 2 per cent rise in house prices, compared to the previous year, while rents continued to increase across the island, Eurostat data showed.

Across the EU property prices rose 5.7 per cent year-on-year and 1.4 per cent from the previous quarter.