Rental housing: unlikely effectiveness of schemes | Cyprus News'Rent-to-own: poor performance of schemes | Cyprus News

The measures announced by President Nicos Christodoulides as part of the government's housing policy have not been criticized. They were welcomed because the aim was to provide affordable housing, but no one asked whether the measures would be effective and achieve the desired results.

The ones that were straightforward - cash assistance for young homebuyers - will''work, but schemes aimed at providing 'affordable rent' by offering incentives to property owners and developers to provide housing are unrealistic.

Offering young families a certain amount of money (between €20,000 and €50,000) to buy a home or subsidizing the interest rate on their mortgage for a certain period is a clean deal if the state can afford it.

The question is whether schemes such as 'renovate to rent' or 'build to rent' by offering a higher build rate will work. The idea is to increase the supply of housing to reduce rents, but who will build properties when there is a commitment''offer it at an 'affordable price' that may be significantly different from market rates and not provide a proper return on investment?

With regard to the 'refurbish to rent' scheme to encourage owners to fit out empty properties and put them on the market, the amount of cash incentives, according to property people, is unattractive, especially given that the property has to be rented out at an 'affordable price' for four years.

It could be said that the most serious obstacle to the government's 'affordable rent' programs is the law that