Students struggle to find affordable housing in Limassol

Students are likely to face an uphill battle to secure accommodation, especially in Limassol, for the coming academic year due to the proliferation of short-term rentals particularly in coastal areas, a real-estate expert said on Friday.

Marinos Kineyirou, president of the Cyprus Real Estate Agents Registration Council, told the Cyprus News Agency that short-term rentals were pushing prices up and making things difficult for students. He said something needed to be done, even banning the practice.

Kineyirou said that with the start of the new academic year approaching, accommodation was coming an issue amid the relatively small stock of student residences or halls and the channelling of private accommodation into holiday lets.

He said that at the moment, one-bedroom apartments in Limassol ranged between €1,000 and €1,100 per month. In Nicosia the same type of apartment costs between €600-€700 and in Larnaca and Paphos between €500 and €600.

Similar gaps exist in relation to two-bedroom apartments with prices in Limassol ranging between €1,400 and €1,500, in Nicosia €800 to €900 -the same as Paphos – while in Larnaca the prices vary between €700 and €800.

Kineyirou pointed out that even if in Limassol two students shared a two-bedroom apartment, they would still end up paying more than a one-bedroom in the other main towns.

“The rise in prices is not only attributable to short-term rentals but also to the demand that arose due to the influx of foreign labour, mainly in IT companies,” he said. Kineyirou said prices were up due to the limited supply.

This is largely because daily or short-term rental has absorbed some of the supply of properties for long-term or student rentals.

“The possibility of stopping or limiting the daily rentals should be seriously considered, so that problems are not created either for those looking for apartments to rent or for registered tourist units,” he said.

“Unfortunately, today everyone is converting residential units into tourist apartments and we wonder who ultimately controls the zones and permits,” he added.

According to information from the tourism industry the number of self-catering accommodation units offered on Airbnb and Booking.com now exceeds a third of the beds available in hotels and other tourist accommodations.

Out of 14,446 short-term rental properties in the Republic, only 7,200 are officially registered and legally allowed to host guests as of June 2024 although it is believed that around 11,000 of those have applied for registration.

However, the trends is, according to hoteliers and others, creating unfair competition as well as driving up rental prices, industry representatives said last month.

One student told the Cyprus Mail in July that finding somewhere in Limassol ahead of his studies at Tepak was “a nightmare”.

“I know that Limassol is more expensive than other towns in Cyprus and has been for a while. But I never expected such prices. We are talking about studio apartments priced at over €1,000 per month,” he said.