Accommodation in Cyprus became significantly more affordable recently. According to data analysis it is caused by the drop in property prices which more than offset the drop in incomes.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors about home prices in Cyprus and Cyprus’s statistical service, known as Cystat, say that in the second quarter of 2015 acquiring of 85 square meters apartment of conventional quality required 53.5 monthly salaries of a common worker, which is greatly cheaper than 89.7 monthly salaries required in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Moreover, an average worker should have paid the equivalent of 173.9 salaries to buy a 250 square meter three bedroom, semi-detached house with garden in the second quarter of 2015, whereas it cost a total of 248.2 average salaries in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The average salary of a worker in Cyprus was €1,878.75 in the fourth quarter of 2009. It reached it’s peak in the second quarter of 2012 (€1,999.44) and then it decreased to €1,884.75 in the second quarter of 2015.

In the same time, the tendency of the house price reduction is noticeable. You could acquire an average apartment and home for €100,867 and €327,748 respectively in the second quarter of 2015, compared to €168.466 and €466,271 in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Cyprus’s economy shrank 2 per cent in 2009 and it entered a prolonged recession. Gross domestic product shrank a further 2.5 per cent in 2015.

By the way, according to Eurostat, the rate of unemployment in Cyprus rose from 5.4 per cent in 2009 to over 16 per cent in 2014.

Buying a home became even more affordable for common workers, because of the drop in lending rates.

In the second quarter of 2015 floating mortgage rates for new business dropped to below 3.5 per cent. Actually, it is more than 150 basis points below mortgage levels in 2009. The further increasing of rates was observed in following years. It remained around 5.3 per cent on average in 2011 and 2012, according to Central Bank of Cyprus data.