Affordable housing has become “one of the greatest social challenges of our time”, Mersina Isidorou, general manager of the Cyprus Property Developers Association, said, describing it as “a pan-European crisis that affects European countries horizontally”.

From “large metropolises to smaller member states”, she said, the rising cost of housing is “testing the resilience of households, intensifying social inequalities and limiting the ability of young people to plan their future with security and perspective”.

Cyprus, she added, “is no exception to this European reality”.

The housing problem, according to Isidorou, “has been affecting a large part of society for years, especially young people and young families, creating an environment of insecurity and uncertainty”.

For the association, she said, addressing the issue is “a particularly important priority”. Through “documented proposals, cooperation with the state and the competent bodies”, the association is seeking “to formulate realistic and sustainable solutions that respond to the real needs of society”.

Isidorou said the housing crisis now unfolding across Europe is directly affecting “the daily lives of millions of citizens” and is “gradually turning into one of the most important social and economic risks of our time”.

“The available data clearly confirm the intensity of the phenomenon,” she said.

According to the Eurostat data cited by Isidorou, from 2015 to the third quarter of 2025, house prices in the European Union increased by 63.6 per cent, while rents rose by 21.1 per cent.

In the second quarter of 2025 alone, she said, the House Price Index recorded an average annual increase of 5.4 per cent at EU level, “further intensifying the pressures on society”.

This development, she said, is “largely linked to the long-term imbalance between supply and demand”. In many European countries, “the production of new housing falls significantly short of actual needs”, with the result that “the limited supply inevitably leads to an increase in prices”.

Indeed, she pointed out that, at European Union level, “over two million new homes are now required annually in order to adequately meet demand and gradually restore balance in the market”.

Cyprus, meanwhile, may not be among “the countries with the fastest increasing prices”, but it is “not unaffected”, she said.

The increases remain “moderate compared to other European markets”, yet “the lack of affordable housing are real and noticeable”.

At the core of the problem in Cyprus, Isidorou said, lies “the insufficient supply of housing units”. As she explained, the issue has its roots mainly in the 2013 – 2018 period, when, during the economic crisis, “construction activity collapsed and the production of new housing reached historically low levels”.

During that period, she said, “a cumulative supply deficit was created, which the market has not yet covered”.

In recent years, she added, the supply of new housing “has continued to lag behind population growth, urbanization and the changing needs of households”.

Therefore, she said, “when supply remains limited and demand increases, price increases are inevitable”.

She also pointed to market data to illustrate the scale of the imbalance. Between 2002 and 2008, annual property transactions in Cyprus ranged between 17,000 and 21,000.

By contrast, in 2024, “almost twenty years later”, transactions stood at only 16,000, despite the fact that “the country’s population is larger and housing needs have clearly increased”.

For Isidorou, this “highlights the significant problem we face in terms of real estate supply”.

She said “delays in the licensing of new developments”, combined with “the lack of sufficient labor in the construction sector”, are “two of the main factors that exacerbate the problem”, creating “serious obstacles to the smooth development of the market and the implementation of new projects”.

These figures, she said, “safely lead to the conclusion that the housing crisis cannot be addressed through fragmented national policies”.

Instead, Isidorou argued that it “requires coordinated European interventions that substantially strengthen the supply of affordable housing, taking into account the specificities of each Member State, but also the common challenges that shape today’s European reality”.

In that respect, she said Cyprus now has “the opportunity, but also the responsibility, to highlight the housing issue at European level”.

The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, she added, constitutes “a substantial opportunity to promote dialogue, exchange views and strengthen cooperation between member states, with the aim of formulating common European policies for affordable housing”.

Any such approach, she said, should be based on increasing supply, mobilising investment, structural reforms, and support for vulnerable groups, especially young people.

“With clear political will, documented interventions and active involvement of all relevant bodies,” Isidorou said, Cyprus “can play a substantial role in the European effort to address the housing crisis, contributing to the formulation of realistic and workable solutions”.

She also said that, in this context, the association has already held a meeting with the interior ministry, during which “ways of the Association’s substantial contribution to the relevant actions of the Cyprus Presidency were examined”.

That contribution, she added, “can take the form of participation in thematic discussions and consultations, as well as the organization of a targeted action or a special event dedicated to affordable housing”.

For Isidorou, “cooperation is the key”.

Addressing the housing problem, she said, “requires substantive dialogue, coordinated cooperation and strategic planning based on documented market data and the real needs of society”.

That, she added, applies “both at national and pan-European level”.

As far as Cyprus is concerned, she said, “the central goal must be to offer more housing units, of the right type, in the right areas and at the right time”.

“This can only be achieved through targeted measures,” she said, including “accelerating permitting procedures, formulating clear and predictable urban planning rules, revising minimum housing sizes and providing incentives to enhance affordable housing”.

The association, Isidorou said, “remains firmly committed to supporting this national and European effort, taking an active role in the public debate and presenting documented positions and solutions”.

Because, as she put it, “only through cooperation and dialogue can we respond consistently and effectively to one of the greatest social challenges of our time and ensure that every citizen has access to quality housing that meets their needs.”