Lawmakers are racing to pass sweeping new restrictions on foreign property purchases before parliament dissolves for elections, with a unified bill expected within 15 days.
The push follows years of largely unchecked foreign buying that, according to MPs, has inflated property prices and — in a country still divided by occupation — raised national security concerns. It also comes in the shadow of Cyprus’s golden passport scandal, in which front men purchased large swathes of property to secure citizenship, helping fuel a real estate bubble that subsequently collapsed.
Aristos Damianou, chair of the House Interior Committee and an AKEL MP, said his party had taken the lead on drafting comprehensive legislation and was now merging it with similar proposals from other parties. Meetings with the Interior Ministry had taken place in recent days to ensure the final text would have government backing and pass without complications.
“A large part of our homeland has been sold into foreign hands, and for a half-occupied Cyprus that is dangerous,” Damianou said. “At the same time, property prices have taken off through a real estate bubble as a direct result of large tracts of land or high-value properties being purchased, particularly in urban centres.”
The proposed legislation would set limits on the size of land foreigners can purchase and introduce outright bans on acquisitions near agricultural zones, critical infrastructure, military bases, beaches and ports. Purchases of homes, shops and similar 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 — safeguards Damianou said were designed to prevent a repeat of the golden passport abuses.
“It is a set of criteria that will not impose an outright ban, but will limit, on rational terms, the ability of foreigners to buy property in Cyprus,” he said.
Damianou said updated Land Registry figures on the total volume of land sold to foreign nationals were due next week.
DIPA MP Giorgos Penintaex echoed the concerns, calling for reforms to crack down on Cypriot shell companies acting as intermediaries for foreign buyers and to protect agricultural land and the public interest. “Mechanisms must be introduced for effective checks on who the foreign buyer is, where they come from and for what purpose they are acquiring property in the half of our homeland that we must protect and not sell off,” he said.
Read more: