IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i13p5597-d1425861.html

Sustainability of the Housing Market: Post-COVID-19 Effects on Housing Preferences in Cyprus

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Evangelou

    (Department of Real Estate, School of Architecture, Engineering, Land and Sciences, Neapolis University Pafos, 8042 Pafos, Cyprus)

  • Martha Katafygiotou

    (Department of Real Estate, School of Architecture, Engineering, Land and Sciences, Neapolis University Pafos, 8042 Pafos, Cyprus)

Abstract

After the announcement of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world had to adopt online education, working from home and social-distancing policies in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. The lockdowns and home isolation brought to the surface the current limitations of the existing housing stock as people needed to re-organize their home space to host various daytime functionalities. Therefore, one could question whether the priorities of potential homebuyers have been changed due to technology, health, and socialization alteration? This study explores the preferences for housing attributes and trends in Cyprus post-COVID-19 pandemic and compares these against the views of real estate professionals who represent the Cypriot residential demand prior the pandemic. Data were gathered via qualitative surveys from 117 potential homebuyers and 36 real estate professionals from across Cyprus. A survey methodology with questionnaires was used to analyze the changes in the real estate demand between the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the mean importance of the housing attributes and to compare the results from the pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic periods. The analysis found a shift toward houses rather than apartments, and the results suggest that new housing should contain more capacity for private use spaces, and at the same time, it should be designed with flexible and adaptive layouts to accommodate more activities. This study discusses whether these shifts are likely to be temporary or permanent and the implications for real estate professionals.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Evangelou & Martha Katafygiotou, 2024. "Sustainability of the Housing Market: Post-COVID-19 Effects on Housing Preferences in Cyprus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:13:p:5597-:d:1425861
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5597/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5597/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dowell Myers, 2016. "Peak Millennials: Three Reinforcing Cycles That Amplify the Rise and Fall of Urban Concentration by Millennials," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 928-947, November.
    2. Ling Li & Wayne Xinwei Wan & Shenjing He, 2021. "The Heightened ‘Security Zone’ Function of Gated Communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Changing Housing Market Dynamic: Evidence from Beijing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    3. Andrea Amerio & Andrea Brambilla & Alessandro Morganti & Andrea Aguglia & Davide Bianchi & Francesca Santi & Luigi Costantini & Anna Odone & Alessandra Costanza & Carlo Signorelli & Gianluca Serafini , 2020. "COVID-19 Lockdown: Housing Built Environment’s Effects on Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-10, August.
    4. So Yeon Park & Caroline Newton & Rachel Lee, 2023. "How to Alleviate Feelings of Crowding in a Working from Home Environment: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-21, January.
    5. Tyrvainen, Liisa & Miettinen, Antti, 2000. "Property Prices and Urban Forest Amenities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 205-223, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mikaela Palada & Paul Christian B. Pamor & Jasmin Rose B. Sulit & Renica Lourielle C. Villegas, 2024. "Uncovering the Challenges and Opportunities of Gig Economy for Small Businesses," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(8), pages 2348-2367, August.
    2. Mesbah Fathy Sharaf & Abdelhalem Mahmoud Shahen & Mansour Abdullateef Alharaib, 2025. "Tracing the COVID-19 Footprint: A Sectoral Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Real Estate Price Dynamics in Saudi Arabia," Working Papers 1781, Economic Research Forum, revised 20 Jul 2025.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniela D’Alessandro & Andrea Rebecchi & Letizia Appolloni & Andrea Brambilla & Silvio Brusaferro & Maddalena Buffoli & Maurizio Carta & Alessandra Casuccio & Liliana Coppola & Maria Vittoria Corazza , 2023. "Re-Thinking the Environment, Cities, and Living Spaces for Public Health Purposes, According with the COVID-19 Lesson: The LVII Erice Charter," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Klein, Nicholas J. & Smart, Michael J., 2017. "Millennials and car ownership: Less money, fewer cars," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 20-29.
    3. Ahmet Tolunay & Çağlar Başsüllü, 2015. "Willingness to Pay for Carbon Sequestration and Co-Benefits of Forests in Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-27, March.
    4. Hardie, Ian W. & Nickerson, Cynthia J., 2003. "The Effect Of A Forest Conservation Regulation On The Value Of Subdivisions In Maryland," Working Papers 28575, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    5. Tan, Fuqiang & Li, Xi & Agarwal, Reeti & Joshi, Yatish & Yaqub, Muhammad Zafar, 2024. "Does multilingual packaging influence purchasing in retail segment? Evidence from multiple experiments," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Xiao Peng & Shipeng Wen, 2025. "The Economic Performance of Urban Sponge Parks Uncovered by an Integrated Evaluation Approach," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Park, Mi Sun & Shin, Seongmin & Lee, Haeun, 2021. "Media frames on urban greening in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    8. Whelan, Adele & McGuinness, Seamus & Barrett, Alan, 2021. "Review of International Approaches to Evaluating Rural and Community Development Investment and Supports," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS124.
    9. Bereitschaft, Bradley, 2020. "Gentrification and the evolution of commuting behavior within America's urban cores, 2000–2015," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    10. Justyna Rój & Maciej Jankowiak, 2021. "Socioeconomic Determinants of Health and Their Unequal Distribution in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-20, October.
    11. Chen, Yu & Liu, Gengyuan & Yan, Ningyu & Yang, Qing & Gao, He & Su, Liya & Santagata, Remo, 2023. "Comprehensive evaluation of urban greenspace ecological values marketability through the spatial relationship between housing price and ecosystem services," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 484(C).
    12. Hillis, Holly & Karwowski, Nicole, 2025. "The Impact of Conservation Easements on Housing Prices in US Counties," 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO 361122, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Jean De Beir & Céline Emond & Yannick L'Horty & Laetitia Tuffery, 2015. "Protecting biodiversity by developing bio-jobs: a multi-branch analysis with an application on French data," Working Papers 2015.03, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    14. Bin Xu, 2022. "How to Efficiently Reduce the Carbon Intensity of the Heavy Industry in China? Using Quantile Regression Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-24, October.
    15. Elodie Charbonnier & Sarah Le Vigouroux & Aurelie Goncalves, 2021. "Psychological Vulnerability of French University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Four-Wave Longitudinal Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-13, September.
    16. Carole Pelissier & Joelane Paredes & Martine Moulin & Thierry Bitot & Eric Fakra & Luc Fontana, 2021. "Telework and Psychological Health in Hospital Staff during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Epidemic in France," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-11, October.
    17. Mars, Lidón & Arroyo, Rosa & Ruiz, Tomás, 2022. "Mobility and wellbeing during the covid-19 lockdown. Evidence from Spain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 107-129.
    18. Catarina de Sousa Silva & Simon Bell & Lenka Lackóová & Thomas Panagopoulos, 2025. "A Bibliometric Analysis on Designing Urban Green and Blue Spaces Related to Environmental and Public Health Benefits," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, June.
    19. Yiyi Chen & Colin A. Jones & Neil A. Dunse & Enquan Li & Ye Liu, 2023. "Housing Prices and the Characteristics of Nearby Green Space: Does Landscape Pattern Index Matter? Evidence from Metropolitan Area," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, February.
    20. Zhen Wang & Bo Yang & Shujuan Li & Chris Binder, 2016. "Economic Benefits: Metrics and Methods for Landscape Performance Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-12, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:13:p:5597-:d:1425861. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.