Yield is the most over-quoted and least understood number in Cyprus real estate. Headline figures of 6–8% are routinely advertised by sellers; the lived experience for landlords, net of voids, service charges, agency fees and the increasingly aggressive municipal short-let regime, is usually 1.5–2.5 percentage points lower. The map below is built from our own lettings book — 1,800 live properties across the four major cities — and from 2,400 confirmed long-let renewals in the last 18 months.
Where the gross numbers cross 7%
- Larnaca, Mackenzie inland strip: 7.3% gross long-let. Driven by airport-staff demand and a thin stock of one-bedroom units.
- Limassol, Agios Athanasios (the older blocks, not the new towers): 7.1% gross. Family lets to professionals priced out of the marina perimeter.
- Paphos, Universal area: 7.0% gross. Mid-term lets (3–9 months) to Northern European winter residents.
Where the headline number is misleading
The Limassol Marina towers advertise 5.8% gross on short-let. The real net, after the marina's service charge, the management fee, the new municipal short-let levy, and a realistic 22% void factor, is 2.6%. That is not a bad number for an asset that has appreciated 28% in two years, but it is not a yield play. Buyers who go into the marina expecting an income asset are routinely disappointed.
The three structural shifts
First, the municipal short-let regime introduced in 2024 has materially closed the gap between short-let and long-let net yields. In Limassol and Paphos, long-let is now the higher-net strategy for most stock under €600,000. Second, mid-term lets (3–9 months) to a new population of remote workers and winter residents have emerged as the highest-net category in coastal Paphos and Larnaca. Third, the supply of small (one-bed, sub-50 m²) units has been undersupplied for three years; gross yields on that segment have separated from the rest of the market.
"Buy where you would want to live yourself, and you will get the appreciation. Buy where the next tenant wants to live, and you will get the yield. They are almost never the same building."
