Off-plan or resale in Cyprus: how the two compare in 2026

Ask a British couple weighing up Cyprus what worries them, and two things come before the price. Will we get the title deeds? Will the place be warm in January? Off-plan and resale answer both questions differently, and the choice moves the tax bill more than most people expect.

Rules below are checked against primary sources on 25 September 2026.

The comparison in eight lines

Tax on the purchase: €300,000 worked through

New build. A developer sells with VAT at 19%. If the home becomes your main residence, the first 130 m² of covered area and the first €350,000 of the price are taxed at 5%, provided the whole property stays within 190 m² and €475,000; otherwise the entire sale goes at 19%. It must stay your main home for ten years; move out sooner and part of the relief is paid back. The full conditions, and the older rule running to 31 December 2026, are in our Cyprus tax 2026 article.

There are no transfer fees on a new build: the Land Registry charges none where VAT is charged on the same transaction.

Resale. A home that has already been lived in is sold without VAT. The buyer pays the Land Registry transfer fees on a sliding scale: 3% up to €85,000, 5% from €85,001 to €170,000 and 8% above that. A 50% discount applies to the total.

How the €8,600 comes out: 3% of €85,000 is €2,550, 5% of the next €85,000 is €4,250, and 8% of the remaining €130,000 is €10,400. That makes €17,200, halved. The 5% column assumes a home of up to 130 m² covered, so the reduced rate covers the whole price.

Three refinements to the resale column.

• ·Buying as a couple. The Land Registry's own calculator works fees out on the value of each share. Two equal shares of €150,000 come to €5,800 between you after the discount, not €8,600.
• ·Market value. If the Director of the Land Registry considers the declared price below market value at the date of the agreement, fees are charged on the market value. Understating the price in the contract does not reduce them.
• ·Repossessed homes. If the seller acquired the property through a mortgagee sale under Parts VI and VIA of Law 9/1965, the 50% discount does not apply. In our example that means €17,200.

If you will live there and the home qualifies for 5%, the new build costs €6,400 more than the resale on €300,000. If it does not qualify, it costs €48,400 more in tax and fees — the figure to set against renovation, insulation and paying for a resale in one go.

Nearly new resales: the rule that changed on 1 September 2026

The old test taxed a sale within five years of completion, unless the building had been used continuously for 24 months by a non-related party. Decrees 102/2026 and 103/2026 (Official Gazette, 27 February 2026) replaced it from 1 September 2026.

The VAT exemption now does not cover a transfer made before 'first occupation'. First occupation means the first use of the building after delivery or construction — living in it, own use, letting or any other use carried on systematically. First use means systematic use for at least 18 months.

In practice:

• ·A home that has been lived in or let for 18 months or more is sold without VAT, and the buyer pays transfer fees.
• ·A home that stood empty, or was used for less than 18 months, is sold before first occupation and the exemption does not reach it. Deloitte's reading is that such a sale can then qualify for the 5% rate, if the size, price and residence conditions are met.

Under section 7 of the VAT Law, the tax itself is charged only by a taxable person selling in the course of business, such as a developer or company.

The Land Registry advises asking the seller whether VAT is payable and at what rate; the seller should establish this with the Tax Department in advance. On a nearly new home, get the answer in writing before you sign: it decides both the VAT and the transfer fees.

Title deeds: what to check on a resale, what protects you off-plan

When a court ruling of 20 June 2024 froze the old route to a deed for 'trapped buyers', 9,497 applications stopped. Of those, 5,417 concern properties for which no separate title deed has been issued, according to figures the Interior Minister gave MPs in September 2024. Law 110(I)/2025, which reopened the route, applies only where a title deed already exists, so those buyers wait first for the deed itself.

Resale. The Land Registry names three ways to buy: with immediate transfer of the title deed, through a sale contract, or by assignment of a contract from an existing purchaser. Before any payment it advises you to:

1. 01Get a recent title deed and a search certificate. Every property's details are public on the Land Registry portal, free of charge.
2. 02Confirm the property belongs to the seller, check the registered area, and look for charges: a mortgage, a memo from a court judgment, an order to sell, another lodged contract.
3. 03Check for prohibitions against the owner — bankruptcy, dissolution of a company, an order barring sale.
4. 04Confirm the building has a Certificate of Approval and no outstanding planning or building issues.

If the building is finished and there is still no deed, the Land Registry's advice is blunt: find out why. Buying by assignment, check that the original contract was lodged, that nothing is owed to the seller, and what charges sit before and after it; the assignment is lodged within six months, with the outgoing purchaser's capital gains tax clearance.

Off-plan. A unit under construction cannot be registered or have a deed. Registration needs a completion certificate from the supervising engineer and a certificate from the Building Authority. Until then the buyer's protection is the sale contract, lodged with the Land Registry no later than six months after signing under the Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law 81(I)/2011. Once it is lodged:

• ·no later contract for the same unit can be accepted;
• ·if the seller fails to perform, you can apply to court for an order registering the property in your name, or for compensation;
• ·the contract becomes a charge on the property, ranking by the date it was lodged.

How that mechanism works, and what Law 110(I)/2025 changed for buyers still waiting, is in our title deeds article.

Winter: what the law now demands of a new home

Cyprus had no mandatory energy rules for new buildings until December 2007. The government's Energy Service, in its draft national renovation plan of December 2025, treats as insulated only the homes completed between 2010 and 2022 — 18% of the housing stock. The same document says half of Cypriot homes have no central heating of any kind and most lack thermal insulation, so a large share of households live with 'moderate to poor' thermal comfort.

The rules have been revised four times since 2007. The current ones, in Decree 121/2020, apply to homes whose permit application went in from 1 July 2020:

One group of elements may exceed its U-value only if the average for the whole envelope stays at or below 0.65 W/m²K. The same limits are written into the nearly zero-energy building requirements, Decree 122/2020.

On a sale, the energy performance certificate must be shown and handed to the buyer, and the class must appear in every advert; a certificate is valid for ten years. On a resale, ask for it before you sign: the class and the year of construction say more about January than a September viewing. The new builds in our catalogue come with underfloor heating or VRF; the specification is on each development page.

Timing: move in now, or wait for the keys

On a resale with a clean deed, the paperwork sets the pace. The transfer happens at the Land Registry by appointment, once the documents are checked: the seller's tax clearance certificate (form N313), certificates that municipal tax, sewerage and water charges are paid, and the bank's consent if the property is mortgaged.

Off-plan, you wait for the building; every development in the catalogue shows its completion date on its page. The separate deed follows completion.

Paying: stages or one sum

Off-plan, a €10,000 reservation takes the home off the market. After that, payments come in stages, and only once the contract has been lodged with the Land Registry, so at each stage you are paying for what has been built. How that sequence works is on the off-plan page, and the full list of what you pay is on the cost of buying a new build.

On a resale, the Land Registry advises against paying the full price before the deed is transferred into your name, so the balance goes across against the transfer. With no deed, your exposure is whatever has left your account ahead of it.

Price and negotiation

A developer sets the price by price list, and it is fixed in euros when you reserve. We publish the price of every available home in the catalogue, and minimum and median prices by district on Paphos new-build prices.

On a resale the owner sets the price and you negotiate with them.

Renovation and age

Budget for work on a resale. Renovating or repairing a home more than three years past its first occupation carries VAT at 5% rather than 19%. The reduced rate does not cover materials that make up more than half the value of the work. Since 1 September 2026 the home must also have had 18 months of use, counted within those three years.

Before buying an older house, check with your lawyer that the Certificate of Approval exists and whether it carries notes, and that no planning conditions are unmet. In the Land Registry's own words, such issues can trap a buyer in lengthy procedures.

When resale is the better buy

• ·You want to live in Cyprus now, not in two years.
• ·The deed exists, the search is clean, and the building has a Certificate of Approval.
• ·The home will not be your main residence, or fails the size and price test for 5% VAT.
• ·The building dates from after 2010 and its energy certificate shows a decent class.

When off-plan is the better buy

• ·You will live there yourself and the home is within 130 m² and €350,000.
• ·You would rather pay in stages than in one sum.
• ·A warm January matters: for permit applications from 1 July 2020, class A is written into the law rather than into a seller's description.
• ·You can wait for completion, and the contract is lodged with the Land Registry before the staged payments start.

How we do it

We are a developer in Paphos. Universal Park 1 is completed, with title deeds issued. Michelle Park is under construction, completing in the second quarter of 2028. On our own developments the contract is lodged with the Land Registry before staged payments begin, and the document set goes to your lawyer before any reservation.

See what is available now, with prices — or send a message and ask for the documents on any specific home.