Cyprus mortgage for non-residents in 2026: who lends, how much deposit, what rate

The short answer to "can I get a Cyprus mortgage as a non-resident?" is: not on any terms the banks publish. Their housing loans are written for residents of Cyprus. If you live in Kent or Manchester and want to buy in Paphos with a Cypriot mortgage, none of the four banks publishes a product for you.

Below is what each bank actually says, how much it lends, at what rate, and how a mortgage works on a home that is still being built. Everything is correct as of 29 September 2026, and it ends with the figures for a real apartment from our catalogue.

The banks in Cyprus in 2026

First, a correction to older advice online. Hellenic Bank and Eurobank Cyprus have merged, and the combined bank is called Eurobank. AstroBank's business has gone to Alpha Bank Cyprus. Both changes are recorded in the Central Bank of Cyprus Financial Stability Report for 2025. That leaves four lenders to look at: Bank of Cyprus, Eurobank, Alpha Bank Cyprus and Ancoria Bank.

Who Cypriot banks lend to

The terms below are taken from each bank's product pages.

Three things follow from the table.

• ·Three banks of the four say in terms that they lend to residents of Cyprus; Ancoria states no condition, so ask it directly. None publishes a product for someone living abroad. This is not a statement that they refuse; the product simply is not in the published terms, and every bank keeps the final decision on an application to itself.
• ·Eurobank is the widest. It lends on a holiday home and on buy-to-let to non-permanent residents of Cyprus as well, a term it does not define. A main home, as everywhere else, is for permanent residents.
• ·"Permanent" and "non-permanent resident" are not defined on any of the pages — whether it means a residence permit, tax residence or simply living there. Ask the bank about your own situation.

If you are British

Three points apply to a UK buyer specifically.

• ·Bank of Cyprus will not lend to you while you are in the UK. A notice on its loan pages says it does not offer "loans of any nature" to "persons in the United Kingdom".
• ·A pension or salary in pounds lowers the repayment cap. The Central Bank treats a loan as a foreign-currency loan when it is in a currency other than the one you earn in, or other than that of the country you live in. A euro mortgage repaid from sterling income fits that definition, and the cap on repayments drops from 80% to 65% of net disposable income. That is our reading of the definition; the Central Bank does not publish a separate rule for British buyers.
• ·Age limits the term. At all four banks you must be no older than 65 when the loan ends; Bank of Cyprus allows up to 70 if you can show you will keep paying after 65. At 60, that leaves a term of five years, or ten at Bank of Cyprus.

Since Brexit a British citizen without an EU passport is a third-country buyer and needs a permit to buy, whatever the funding. The application is made on form COMM 145 to the District Administration, there is no fee and it takes two to three weeks; the limit is two properties, or a plot of up to 4,000 m² for your own home. The whole process is in buying property in Cyprus as a foreigner.

How much deposit: 20% or 30%

The ceiling on a Cyprus mortgage is set by the Central Bank, not the lender, and it applies to every bank and every borrower:

• ·80% of the value for a main home you will live in permanently;
• ·70% of the value for everything else: a second home, a holiday home, a buy-to-let.

So the deposit is at least 20% or 30%. A bank may lend less than the ceiling, and some do: Bank of Cyprus up to 60% on an investment property, Ancoria up to 65% on a holiday home or buy-to-let.

The second Central Bank rule caps the repayment rather than the loan. Repayments on all your loans must stay within 80% of net disposable income, and within 65% for a loan in a foreign currency, as described above.

Buy-to-let mortgages in Cyprus

Buy-to-let lending exists, and where a bank states a condition it is residence in Cyprus:

• ·Bank of Cyprus — housing loan for investment, up to 60%, up to 20 years, for permanent residents of Cyprus;
• ·Eurobank — Real Estate Loan, described as "investment, buy-to-let", up to 25 years, for permanent and non-permanent residents of Cyprus; the percentage is not published;
• ·Ancoria — Investment Home Loan, up to 65% and up to €300,000; the residence condition is not stated.

A home you let out is not your main home, so it pays VAT at 19% rather than the reduced 5%, and the loan ceiling is 70%. What rents actually look like is in investment property in Cyprus: yields 2026; the rules for holiday lets are in Cyprus short-term rental rules.

Mortgage rates in Cyprus in 2026

Several different figures get quoted, and they are easy to mix up.

The 3.78% in the Central Bank's press release is often reported as the average mortgage rate. It is not: it covers only variable loans and those fixed for up to a year, which were 12.1% of new mortgages in July. Most borrowers now fix, and the average across all loans is 3.24%.

The July figures come before the latest rise. The ECB raised rates twice in 2026, in June and in September, and its main rate has been 2.65% since 16 September. Eurobank's base rate is linked to it and is also 2.65% from that date, with the bank's margin on top.

How a mortgage works on an off-plan home

Until the building is finished you have no title deed, so there is nothing to mortgage in the usual way. The sequence is:

1. 01Documents on the property. The bank looks at the sale contract, the planning and building permits and the current owner's title deed for the land. For an unfinished building it needs a cost analysis and timetable signed by a professional — an engineer, architect or quantity surveyor.
2. 02Valuation by a valuer the bank chooses. While the building is going up, the bank checks the loan against the value of the home at its current stage.
3. 03Security before the deed. The sale contract is lodged with the Land Registry within six months of signing. You then assign your rights under the contract to the bank as security, and the bank lodges that assignment too. Under section 11 of Law 81(I)/2011 it becomes a charge on the contract, and the home cannot be transferred while it stands.
4. 04Money in stages. The Central Bank allows disbursement only on the basis of that cost analysis and timetable; Ancoria says payments follow the progress of works. During construction banks offer a grace period: up to 12 months at Bank of Cyprus and Eurobank, up to two years at Alpha Bank.
5. 05After the deed. Once the title deed is in your name, the mortgage is registered on it. The Land Registry fee is 1% of the mortgage amount.

Match the developer's schedule against the bank's before you sign. At an early build stage the first payment is 30%, due once the contract is signed and lodged with the Land Registry; at Michelle Park it is 50%, because the frame is already up; check the schedule for your own home. That money is due at the contract stage, not on the date of the first bank tranche.

Worked example: a €220,000 one-bedroom apartment

Take the lowest-priced available apartment in our catalogue on 29 September 2026, at Cypress Park in Yeroskipou: one bedroom, 50 m² plus a 13 m² veranda, €220,000 before VAT.

Assumptions: the value the bank accepts is up to its valuer; the bank's share is worked out on the price before VAT, and VAT comes from your own money; the mortgage is registered for the amount of the loan. Term 25 years, at two rates: the July average of 3.24% and the bottom of the current Bank of Cyprus variable range, 4.85%. Both columns assume you live in Cyprus, because that is who the banks publish their loans for.

The reduced 5% VAT is for a main home you live in, so a buy-to-let pays 19%. How the relief works is in VAT on new-build property in Cyprus.

And the repayment cap. Net disposable income, in the Central Bank directive, is income after all monthly outgoings, living costs included, not your salary or pension. With no other loans, a €857 payment fits the 80% rule from €1,071 a month of it. Under the 65% rule for income in another currency it needs €1,318.

For a variable-rate loan the bank works out the payment at a long-term average rate rather than today's, so the bar can be higher. As a guide, at 4.85% the €1,014 payment needs €1,267 under the 80% rule and €1,559 under the 65% rule.

Other costs of a Cyprus mortgage

• ·Life cover for the borrower and buildings insurance against fire and earthquake (flood as well at Eurobank and Bank of Cyprus) are compulsory, assigned to the bank.
• ·Valuation by the bank's valuer.
• ·Bank fees for arrangement and documentation. Bank of Cyprus charges none on a first home. Ancoria charges 1% of the loan (minimum €50) and €80 documentation on loans over €30,000 for a holiday home or investment property. Other banks' amounts are in their tariffs.
• ·Mortgage registration at the Land Registry: 1% of the loan.
• ·Exchange rate. If your income is in pounds, a euro repayment moves with the rate. Eurobank's terms warn about this directly.

The rest of the buying costs — lawyer, VAT, fees — are set out in the cost of buying property in Cyprus.

If a Cypriot bank will not lend to you

For a buyer who lives abroad, the realistic route is the developer's stage payments. This is not a loan: you pay as the building goes up, with no interest, and the last payment is due at handover. How the stages work is on buying off-plan in Cyprus.

If you are moving to Cyprus, the order can be reversed: move first, then borrow for a main home as a resident.

How it works with us

We are a developer in Paphos. On our own development the contract is lodged with the Land Registry before the staged payments begin: without a lodged contract, a bank cannot lodge an assignment in its favour either. The full set of documents — contract, land documents, building permit — goes to your lawyer before any reservation. What is available now, with prices, is in the catalogue.