The municipality of Limassol intends to soon resolve the issue of expensive rental housing. For this, social apartments will be built – about 500. According to representatives of local authorities, even this amount can change the price trend.

Where and what will be rebuilt

The social initiative received full support from the Ministry of the Interior. All the nuances regarding the planned construction were agreed between Konstantinos Petrides, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the mayor of the city of Limassol. According to the head of the municipality Nikos Nikolaides, it is enough to reorganize only three real estate objects in order to get about five hundred housing units.

Currently, the municipality has already picked up buildings that are suitable for restructuring. Two of them are located in Agios Nikolaos – in the most prestigious and convenient area. Agios Nikolaos – the city center, has a developed infrastructure and good transport interchange. The second object was found in a quiet area of Ayios Ioannis. It is ideal for a comfortable and measured life. Here, clean air, beautiful architecture and flora.

Specificity of the social project

According to the representatives of the municipality, who are engaged in the development and maintenance of a project to build low-cost housing, it will take about five years to prepare all the necessary documentation and directly for the construction work itself. After this, residential property will be put up for sale.

According to the initiators of the project, such apartments can be used for the rental of permanent residence. They will be available to young couples who are just beginning to live together and want to get their own, but inexpensive housing, and not to spend the budget for rent.

A distinctive feature of the sale and purchase of apartments built by the municipality is meticulously developed income criteria. Thanks to this approach, the composition of the tenants in each apartment building will be quite balanced.

Reasons and opinions

The municipality of Limassol sounded the alarm after the cost of long-term rental housing in the city began to grow rapidly and increased by 25% over the past 24 months. In no other city in Cyprus has the housing price changed at such a rate. The situation arose due to the fact that the demand for apartments is growing every day, and the volume of proposals does not increase. Only the emergence of low-cost housing can make a difference.

The initiative of the local authorities was not satisfied with some public and political groups, as well as representatives of the real estate industry. In their opinion, only thanks to the large efforts, especially in attracting foreign investors to the construction of high-rise buildings, the housing market has become more expensive. Of course, they believe that the situation cannot be changed.