Twenty-nine three-bedroom semi-detached homes built to high energy efficiency standards are set to go up in Pano Polemidia, Limassol, after President Nikos Christodoulides laid the foundation stone of the Adonis III development on Tuesday — part of a broader drive by the Cyprus Land Development Corporation (CLDC) to deliver 436 affordable units across the island this year.
Christodoulides described the project as a significant investment for a city facing acute housing pressure, and used the ceremony to set out the scale of the government’s housing programme.
From near-standstill to 436 units
After the end of the Cyprus Investment Programme — previously CLDC’s main source of revenue — the organisation went through a prolonged period of limited activity, the president said. In 2023 and 2024 combined, only 16 residential units were delivered and construction had begun on just 24 more.
The government secured new financing tools and revenue sources for CLDC through an initiative by the Interior Minister, Christodoulides said. He pointed specifically to the linking of CLDC’s Special Affordable Housing Fund with the Planning Incentives Scheme and offsetting benefits from other schemes, saying the move had already produced results and was allowing the organisation to move forward with new projects.
CLDC now has 244 units for sale at affordable prices and 192 units for affordable rent on track for delivery within 2026, according to Christodoulides. A further process is under way to subdivide 135 plots across Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos.
Scale of the housing programme
Through fast-track licensing, nearly 3,000 residential units and a further 900 apartment blocks were approved within 40 and 80 working days respectively, the president said. A scheme to build 500 affordable homes for young couples island-wide is under way using state land and a €75 million investment.
The Planning Incentives and Build to Rent schemes, developed with the private construction sector, are expected to yield more than 2,500 residential units over the next two years, Christodoulides said. Of those, 400 will enter the affordable housing market, and more than €12.5 million will flow into CLDC’s Special Affordable Housing Fund to finance further projects.
Through Interior Ministry housing measures, nearly €200 million has been allocated over the past two years, benefiting 5,657 citizens, he said. Christodoulides added that housing would remain a priority in the preparation of the 2027 budget, in coordination with the Finance and Interior ministers.
Christodoulides also noted that through Cyprus’s EU Council Presidency, affordable housing had been placed on the European agenda, with an informal Council of Interior Ministers held in Cyprus taking the issue as its main theme.
EAC pylon protest
At the ceremony, Christodoulides said he had met a group of residents demanding the removal of electricity pylons near their homes, calling their worries “entirely justified.” He said he had contacted EAC personally and that a meeting between the mayor and EAC had been arranged for Friday. “We will do what needs to be done,” he said.
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