Minister analyzed government housing policy
The priority of the government is, from the first moment, the implementation of targeted measures to alleviate the housing problem was said today, Thursday, Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou said, noting that the 44.4% increase in building licenses for the first half of the 20s and the first half of the building units In recent years in the production of a new residential stock.
In a speech at the Conference and the Development of Land, Planning and Construction of Buildings in Nicosia, Mr. Ioannou said that to achieve the goal of mitigation of the housing, the government designed a housing policy, including a comprehensive and single way. As he said, the philosophy of the policy “I HAVE MY FUTURE” is based on increasing the housing in stock, in an effort to decompress prices, and the accessible home in particular, and to enhance the purchasing capacity of citizens with focusing on young and young families.
Mr Ioannou said that the increase in real estate and rent prices seems to be gradually overturned, as demonstrated by the residential price index recently published by the Central Bank of Cyprus for the third quarter of 2024. As he said, according to the index, although the prices of real estate are still increasing. Cypriot real estate market.
The minister noted that the 44.4% increase in building permits for residential units in the first half of 2024, prior to the transfer of licensing to the provincial authorities, as well as the slight decrease in the cost of construction materials, leads to the decline in the declining recession. He added that the gradual increase in construction activity and the production of more home units contributes to the increase in supply.
Mr Ioannou pointed out that the reinstatement of the balance between low supply and high demand and further stabilization of prices are contributed to the measures and plans included in the state’s single housing policy. The implementation of the planning incentives and the “Build to Rent” plan by granting an additional building factor of 25% to 45% of the applicable land professionals and not only, aims to build more houses, with the obligation to disposal part or all of the additional units at prices.
Specifically, the “Build to Rent” plan is provided like all residential units produced by the additional building factor will be available on affordable rent. At the same time, the urban incentive plan presupposes the concession of 20% of the additional home units for an affordable price and the remaining 25% at free market prices.
The minister expressed his satisfaction with the fact that these two plans were embraced by land development professionals. From the expressions of interest so far and the agreements signed, he said, we believe that the next few years will be produced in the next few years over the 1,900 residential units and will be accessed by almost 300 houses. Also, about € 8.7 million is expected to enter the KOG’s special housing fund from the right to redeem the building factor.
Concerning the fact that in previous years there were delays in the licensing of developments, Mr Ioannou said the problem became even more intense with the implementation of local government reform and the transfer of jurisdiction to the newly established provincial organizations.
He explained that this was due to various factors, mainly to the magnitude of the change implemented since July 1, 2024 and the unsatisfactory preparation made by some EOA by the provisional advisory councils responsible for the preparation.
He said that with the aim of smoothly and as soon as possible to operate the EOA, about 24% more licensing was detached from what was concerned before reforming at the District Offices of the Department of Town Planning and Housing. In addition, the Government approved a total of 354 posts, upon requests by the EOAs, to hire permanent staff who will staff the licensing departments of the five organizations and are already undergoing recruitment procedures.
Mr Ioannou added that after normalizing the situation, in recent months there has been an increase in the number of applications that are being handled, however, as he pointed out, there is still a lot of room for improvement.
He then referred to the large and radical reform of the area of growth licensing, saying that by recognizing the problems and huge delays caused by the bureaucratic processes, it proceeded to modify the framework for submission, examination and approval of applications.
“Our main goal is to limit the time to handle the licensing process for low and middle risk developments, which make up about 50% of applications being made,” he said.
Mr Ioannou announced that it was decided to promote a proposal to the Council of Ministers to abolish the obligation to comply with specific percentages per type of apartments in tourist zones. “We are in the final stage of processing the proposal and will be submitted for approval by the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks,” he said.
He added that the further decrease in 15% of the area in all types of apartments in zones where residential development is also considered.
Source: KYPE