Every bank in Cyprus works to the same two Central Bank limits: how much of the property's value it can lend, and how much of your income the repayments can take. Each bank then adds its own rules on top, and those are stricter for people who live abroad. This page sets out both, with the 2026 rates and what the loan itself costs.
The Central Bank of Cyprus sets limits that every bank operating in Cyprus has to follow. The first is loan-to-value, the share of the property's value the bank is allowed to lend. It is 80% when the property will be your primary permanent residence and 70% for anything else, which covers a holiday home, a second home and a buy-to-let. On a €325,000 main home the largest loan any bank can offer is therefore €260,000, and at least €65,000 has to come from you.
The second limit is about income. All your loan repayments together, the new mortgage included, can take no more than 80% of your net disposable income. The bank works that figure out on its own form: what comes in each month, less what you normally spend. If the loan is in a different currency from the one you are paid in, the limit is 65%.
Both are ceilings rather than promises. A bank can lend less, ask for a larger deposit or decline, and the sections below cover the parts each bank decides for itself as well as the fixed rules.
Set the price, the deposit, the rate and the term. The deposit cannot go below what the Central Bank allows for the kind of property you pick, so every loan shown here is one a bank is permitted to make.
The rate starts at the Central Bank's average for new housing loans in August 2026. Variable rates on offer in October 2026 are higher, at about 4.65% to 5.00%, because the ECB raised its rates in September. Cash up front is the deposit, the VAT or transfer fees and the 1% Land Registry fee for registering the mortgage, all paid from your own money. Legal fees, valuation, bank charges and insurance come on top.
A bank applies both limits and lends the lower of the two answers.
The loan-to-value limit sets the smallest deposit. Whether the property counts as your primary permanent residence is the question that decides it, so a home you are buying now and will move into next year is worth raising with the bank at the start rather than leaving it to assume a second home.
The income test is where most applications are actually decided. The bank fills in a personal financial statement with you: income on one side, regular spending and every existing loan, overdraft and card repayment on the other. What is left is your net disposable income, and the new repayment plus all the old ones must fit inside 80% of it. For a variable rate, the Central Bank's rules tell the bank to test the repayment at a long-term average rate, so a low rate today does not stretch the loan as far as it would seem to.
If you are self-employed or run your own company, the bank takes your yearly income and divides it by twelve. Bonuses, overtime and similar extras only count if the bank is satisfied they are steady and recur.
The banks set the rest. Bank of Cyprus, Eurobank and Alpha Bank, the three that publish their housing loan terms, all want the loan repaid by the time you turn 65, and lend over 30 to 35 years at most on a main home. Someone who is 45 when they borrow therefore has 20 years at most. The Central Bank's rules list what a bank may ask to see: the last three months of salary slips if you are employed, and if you work for yourself an accountant's or auditor's confirmation of income or a social insurance statement, VAT returns if you are registered, and your tax return. A company borrowing in its own name needs audited or reviewed accounts for the last three years.
| Buying | Most the bank can lend | Smallest deposit on €325,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Your primary permanent residence | 80% | €65,000 |
| A second home, holiday home or buy-to-let | 70% | €97,500 |
| €260,000 over 25 years at 4% | Per month |
|---|---|
| The repayment | €1,372 |
| Disposable income needed, paid in euros (80% limit) | €1,715 |
| Disposable income needed, paid in pounds (65% limit) | €2,111 |
| Published bank terms | Most it lends | Longest term |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of Cyprus, first home | 80% | 35 years |
| Bank of Cyprus, holiday home | 70% | 35 years |
| Bank of Cyprus, investment property | 60% | 20 years |
| Eurobank, main home | 80% | 30 years |
| Eurobank, holiday home | 70% | 25 years |
| Alpha Bank, main home | 80% | 30 years |
| Alpha Bank, second property | 70% | 30 years |
Disposable income here means what is left of your monthly income after your usual spending, worked out the way the bank's form does it. The figures assume no other loans, since any existing repayment comes out of the same allowance. Bank terms are for permanent residents of Cyprus, read on each bank's website on 19 October 2026, and every bank requires the loan to end by age 65.
The Central Bank's limits are the same for residents and non-residents. The differences come from each bank's own lending policy, and they are real: the personal housing loans that Bank of Cyprus, Eurobank and Alpha Bank publish are all described as being for permanent residents of Cyprus, and Bank of Cyprus states that it does not currently offer consumer lending of any kind to people in the United Kingdom. Eurobank describes its holiday-home loan as open to permanent and non-permanent residents of Cyprus, without saying what non-permanent covers. None of the three publishes a separate deposit, rate or term for someone living abroad. If you are still living abroad, the practical choices are to ask a bank directly or to apply once you have moved.
The currency of your income matters more than most buyers expect. The Central Bank defines a foreign-currency loan as one in a currency other than the one you are paid in, or other than the currency of the country you live in. A euro mortgage for someone living in the UK and paid in sterling falls inside that definition, which brings the 65% income limit and a set of safeguards with it. The bank has to explain the exchange-rate risk, warn you in writing if exchange rates move your repayments or the balance by more than 20%, and give you the right to convert the loan into the currency you earn or live in. How each bank applies this to a particular application is something to ask it directly.
A Cypriot or other EU passport does not change this on its own, because the banks' published terms turn on where you live rather than on your citizenship. What citizenship gives you is the right to live in Cyprus and to buy without the permit that non-EU buyers need, which is covered on buying property in Cyprus.
Central Bank of Cyprus figures for August 2026, the latest month published.
The average rate on new housing loans in Cyprus was 3.31% in August 2026, about 0.2 points below the eurozone median. That average mixes different kinds of loan. Loans with a variable rate, or a rate fixed for a year or less, averaged 4.16%, while loans fixed for between one and five years averaged 3.27%. Only 12% of new mortgages in August were variable, against almost all of them at the start of 2022, so most buyers now start with a fixed period.
A variable rate in Cyprus is usually the bank's base rate plus a margin, and at most banks the base follows the European Central Bank's main refinancing rate rather than Euribor. Bank of Cyprus publishes its variable housing rate as the ECB base rate plus 2.20% to 2.35%, which comes to 4.85% to 5.00% at the current ECB rate. Eurobank's base rate is also linked to the ECB rate and changes on the day the ECB's does. Alpha Bank is the exception among the three: its housing loan base rate is three-month Euribor plus 2.00%, reset every quarter.
The ECB raised its rates twice in 2026, in June and again in September, and its main refinancing rate has been 2.65% since 16 September. A variable mortgage moves with those decisions, which is why Eurobank's published examples for a 20-year main-home loan on 16 October 2026 show variable rates of 4.65% to 4.95%, above the August average. Bank of Cyprus and Eurobank also offer a fixed rate for the first three, five or ten years, after which the loan turns variable.
| New housing loans, August 2026 | Average rate |
|---|---|
| All new housing loans | 3.31% |
| Variable, or fixed for up to one year | 4.16% |
| Fixed for over one and up to five years | 3.27% |
| Fixed for over one year, all lengths | 3.20% |
| Reference rates | Rate |
|---|---|
| ECB main refinancing rate, from 16 September 2026 | 2.65% |
| 6-month Euribor, September 2026 average | 2.92% |
| 12-month Euribor, September 2026 average | 3.25% |
The Central Bank does not publish separate averages for fixed periods of five to ten years or over ten years. These are averages across all borrowers and loan types, holiday homes included, so the rate you are offered depends on your own application. September figures are due in early November.
These sit on top of the VAT or transfer fees on the purchase, which are set out on buying property in Cyprus.
The Land Registry charges 1% of the amount of the mortgage to register it against the property, plus €5 for each of two certificates. On a €260,000 loan that is €2,610. There is no cap and no reduction for a first home. If you remortgage later, the 1% is charged only on any increase over the existing mortgage, and taking a repaid mortgage off the title costs nothing at the Land Registry.
Banks add their own charges, which each publishes in a table of commissions and charges. Bank of Cyprus waives its arrangement and documentation fees on a first home and charges €75 to cancel the mortgage when a loan is repaid early. Eurobank charges €8.50 for a redemption letter and €50 for a consent letter when a mortgage is released or amended. None of the three publishes its valuation fee, so ask for it and any arrangement fee in writing before you apply.
Expect insurance to be a condition of the loan. Eurobank makes life cover and fire and earthquake cover compulsory on a main-home loan, and Alpha Bank requires your life policy to be assigned to it. Both premiums run for as long as the loan does.
| Cost | Charged by | On a €260,000 loan |
|---|---|---|
| Registering the mortgage: 1%, plus two €5 certificates | Land Registry | €2,610 |
| Removing the mortgage once it is repaid | Land Registry | €0 |
| Stamp duty on the loan or the purchase | Abolished from 1 January 2026 | €0 |
| Arrangement and documentation fees | The bank | Varies |
| Valuation of the property | The bank's approved valuer | Ask first |
| Life cover and buildings insurance | Insurer | Yearly |
The Land Registry fee is set in its published schedule of fees. Bank charges are from the tables Bank of Cyprus and Eurobank published for 2025 and 2026, and change more often.
Law 41(I)/2017, which brought the EU Mortgage Credit Directive into Cyprus law, gives you these protections on a loan secured on a home.
| Your right | What the law says |
|---|---|
| A standard information sheet | The bank must give you the European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS) before you are bound. It sets out the rate, the total cost and the repayments in a fixed format, so offers from different banks can be compared line by line. |
| Time to consider an offer | 15 working days from a binding offer, and you cannot accept it in the first 5. |
| Withdrawing after you sign | 5 working days, as long as no money has been paid out under the loan. |
| Paying off early, variable rate | The bank cannot charge compensation. |
| Paying off early, fixed period | The bank can claim compensation worked out by the formula in the law. Any administrative charge is capped at €100 or 1.25% of the interest and charges you save, whichever is lower. |
| A loan in another currency | The bank must check you understand the exchange-rate risk and warn you if the loan does not suit you. You can convert it into the currency you earn or live in, and the bank must warn you in writing if exchange rates move your repayments or the balance by more than 20%. |
| A proper affordability check | The bank has to verify your income and spending, and may not lend mainly because the property is worth more than the loan or is expected to rise in value. |
The 2026 tax reform added a deduction for the interest you pay on a loan to buy or build your main residence in Cyprus. From the 2026 tax year, each spouse or partner, or a single person, can deduct up to €2,000 of that interest from their taxable income, provided they are tax resident in Cyprus. Rent paid on a main home qualifies under the same rule.
The home must be owned by at least one of you, the loan must be in at least one of your names, and the deduction cannot be more than the interest you actually paid. It is also limited by gross household income, as the table shows. Because it reduces taxable income rather than the tax itself, what it saves you depends on your band on the tax system.
We found no interest-rate subsidy or buyer grant open to new applications on 19 October 2026. The Ministry of Finance subsidy covered loans signed in 2022 and 2023 and closed to applications on 31 March 2025, and the Ministry of the Interior's housing grant for young buyers took its last applications on 30 November 2025.
| Household | Gross income limit |
|---|---|
| Single person | €40,000 |
| Family with up to two children | €100,000 |
| Family with three or four children | €150,000 |
| Family with five or more children | €200,000 |
Article 14B of the Income Tax Law, added by Law 244(I)/2025. The deduction is up to €2,000 for each spouse or partner, and never more than the interest or rent actually paid.
A reservation deposit commits money to one property. Knowing first what a bank in Cyprus would lend you, on your income and in your currency, tells you what you can actually spend.
Every figure on this page was checked against Central Bank of Cyprus publications, legislation and the banks' own published terms on 19 October 2026.
The Central Bank limits are ceilings, and each bank decides applications case by case and can be stricter than they are. Bank terms and rates change more often than the law, so check them with the bank on the day. That a euro loan to someone paid in pounds counts as a foreign-currency loan is our reading of the Central Bank's definition, which does not name any currency, so confirm how your bank applies it. Hellenic Bank was renamed Eurobank in September 2025, and AstroBank's banking operations passed to Alpha Bank in November 2025. This page is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.