Cyprus rental yield in 2026: what a Paphos apartment actually earns, and what it costs to run one

Most pages on this subject either promise a number or sell you a spreadsheet. Below is neither: published figures for what apartments actually yield in Cyprus, each with its source, what they actually rent for right now, and what that means for specific apartments that are for sale today. Figures are as at 31 August 2026 and will move — the two live links (the rent search, the catalogue) stay current after the numbers around them go stale.

Everything below is the Republic of Cyprus — the internationally recognised south, the only market we sell in. The north runs under different law and different numbers; they don't transfer.

Is property in Cyprus a good investment? The comparable number first

The question usually arrives as a yes/no, and the useful answer is a number you can set against your alternatives. For an investment property in Cyprus bought new, that number has three parts, and all three are below with sources:

• ·What it yields. The RICS/KPMG index for Q2 2026 puts the average yield on apartments across Cyprus at 5.51% gross of the ex-VAT price; it publishes no separate figure for Paphos. An investor does not pay the ex-VAT price: buy-to-let carries 19% VAT on the whole amount, so a €220,000 one-bedroom at that benchmark yields about 4.63% of the money actually spent.
• ·What it costs to hold. Communal fees, management, a municipal charge and tax on the rent — itemised further down, none of them hidden in a "net yield" nobody can check.
• ·Where the rent is going. The same release recorded apartment rents up 7.36% year on year nationally — the fastest-rising rent line in that index.

What this page does not do is forecast capital growth: no source publishes a figure for a specific new-build address, and the ones that promise one are guessing. Compare the yield after costs with what your money earns elsewhere, at your own tax rate, and the answer to "is it a good investment" becomes yours rather than a salesman's.

What the market actually yields

The RICS/KPMG index comes out quarterly. Its yield is a valuers' assessment: RICS surveyors' estimate of annual market rent against the market value of typical properties in five towns, rolled into one figure per property type for Cyprus as a whole. It publishes no separate yield for Paphos, Limassol or any other town. The latest release covers Q2 2026 (published 25 August 2026). Gross rental yield, Cyprus:

"Gross" means before management, void periods, maintenance and tax — the number used for comparison, not the cheque you'd actually receive. Apartments let better than houses relative to their price. Rental values themselves (not yields — the actual rent charged) rose 7.36% year on year for apartments across Cyprus, faster than any other property type in the index; houses rose 5.30%.

What Paphos apartments actually rent for

The index figure is a national average; the live rental listings on Bazaraki — Cyprus's largest classifieds site — are actual Paphos asking rents. Snapshot taken 31 August 2026:

Geroskipou is worth flagging specifically: it's where two of the projects below are built.

Applying it to what's actually for sale

Taking the average yield on apartments across Cyprus (5.51%) and applying it to real available units — not a hypothetical — gives an illustrative gross figure. This is an estimate built on the national average (RICS/KPMG index, Q2 2026), not a Paphos figure and not a promise about any specific unit:

*Price × 5.51% ÷ 12, where 5.51% is the average gross yield on apartments across Cyprus in the RICS/KPMG index for Q2 2026; the index publishes no separate figure for Paphos. Illustrative only — the national average applied to today's price, not a forecast or a promise for that specific address.

The national average needs checking against Paphos. On it the Cypress Park 2-bed comes to ≈€1,378 a month, while Geroskipou 2-beds ask around €1,100 on Bazaraki right now — about 4.40% of the ex-VAT price, below the Cyprus average. So treat the national benchmark as a starting point and decide on a specific apartment by the live listings around it. Both are asking rents, not signed leases.

The table works on the ex-VAT price, which is how the catalogue lists it. A buy-to-let buyer has to add VAT at the full rate: the reduced 5% is reserved for a home you'll live in yourself, and a flat bought to let doesn't meet that condition. For the Cypress Park 1-bed that is €220,000 + 19% = €261,800 all-in, and the gross yield an investor should work from is the one on that figure, not on the catalogue price. The pages of apartment developments up to €400,000 show both numbers side by side, at live prices, in the "If you're buying property in Cyprus as an investment" block.

Every apartment under €400,000 available today, each with its price including 19% VAT and its yearly communal fee, is listed on investment property for sale in Paphos. The full catalogue with floor plans and current prices has the rest.

What comes off the gross figure

A gross yield is the top line, not the return. What reduces it, in the order it hits:

• ·The building's own running costs. Across our catalogue the communal fee follows the floor area: €2 per m² of internal area a month. On a 50 m² one-bedroom at Cypress Park that is €100 a month, €1,200 a year, with the first year and a deposit of the same amount paid on handover. Electricity, water and the municipal charge are separate and follow whoever occupies the unit.
• ·Letting it out. Cyprus has no fixed scale; ongoing management for a long-term let typically runs 8–15% of the rent collected, and sourcing a tenant in the first place typically costs around one month's rent plus VAT. Managing it yourself removes this line but adds the work.
• ·No annual property tax to plan for. Cyprus abolished Immovable Property Tax in 2017 and it hasn't returned — see Cyprus tax in 2026 for the rest of what does and doesn't apply. What remains is a municipal charge, typically a few hundred euros a year.
• ·Tax on the rent itself. Long-term rental income is taxed under the normal income bands after a notional 20% deduction for upkeep and any loan interest (short-term letting is taxed differently, on profit after actual expenses: see Cyprus short-term rental rules); the Special Defence Contribution on rent was abolished from 2026, but the 2.65% GESY health contribution still applies. Since 1 July 2026 rent may only be paid by bank transfer or card — cash is no longer valid, whatever the amount. Full mechanics and the income bands are in the tax article; what you actually owe depends on your total income for the year, not the rent alone.

None of this nets out to a single number here on purpose — it depends on your management choice and your other income. What's above is the checklist to run against a specific unit before you rely on any figure someone else gives you.

Long-term or short-term

Two different regimes, and they're not interchangeable:

• ·Long-term (a standard lease, typically a year or more). No special licence. You register with the Cyprus Tax Department, get a TIN if you don't have one, and the agreement is between you and the tenant.
• ·Short-term / holiday letting. Registration with the Deputy Ministry of Tourism is compulsory and enforced — this is a different, more paperwork-heavy business, usually run through a specialist agent charging 15–25% of gross income rather than the 8–15% above, because it includes turnover cleaning, check-in and platform management.

Most buy-to-let buyers in Paphos go long-term: it is the simpler regime, and it is what the 1- and 2-bedroom stock above is actually built for — year-round tenants (professionals, relocating families, people working in Paphos), not a summer-only occupancy pattern. How registration for holiday letting works, the fines and how the income is taxed: Cyprus short-term rental rules 2026.

Which units this actually suits

Not every property in our catalogue makes an equally good rental. A villa with a garden is what the lifestyle buyer wants — the ones who intend to live in it — and it doesn't rent at the same multiple of its price as a smaller apartment does; it costs more to buy and doesn't command a proportionally higher rent. What lets predictably, apartment for apartment, is exactly the smaller, lower-priced stock in the tables above: 1- and 2-bedroom units, near a town centre rather than deep inland, at price points where the rent covers a meaningful share of the monthly cost of owning it.

That's a different filter than "which unit would I want to live in myself" — and worth applying explicitly before choosing which unit to buy, if an investment property rather than a home is the actual goal. The new-build apartments in Paphos sit in exactly this bracket. How the towns compare is in where to buy property in Cyprus, and the tax on the way out in capital gains tax on Cyprus property. If you would rather put money into a whole building under construction than into one flat, the numbers are different; they are in our piece on property development in Cyprus.

This is market data and a worked illustration, not a forecast for any one address and not tax advice for your situation — have the numbers checked against your own income by an accountant before you commit to a unit on the strength of them.