# cost of living average info needed for 2person household



## deheer69 (Oct 11, 2016)

Good afternoon Cyprus forum,

We a Dutch couple currently living in Western Australia, but due to my job transferring towards Abu Dhabi we're looking to live in Paphos as from next year March 2017 onwards.
We would appriciate all the info in regards to cost of living in Paphos year round.
Especially the Utilities,Internet/Mobile plans,health care/hous/car insurance,communal fees when living in a gated community,etc.
Any info is welcomed.

thanks in Advance,
Kind regards,
Ralph Smit


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Hi Ralph,

Welcome to the Forum. In many ways, the answer to this question (which comes up regularly) depends very much on your lifestyle and expected level of comfort. Any answer you get will clearly depend, therefore, on the responder, so just bear in mind that one size does not fit all.

We have been here for 2 years now, and our experience is as follows:

*Community Charge*. In Polis where we live, this amounts to €125 per year.

*Water*. We have a swimming pool and during the Summer it gets topped up via our domestic supply. Our water bills are between €25 and €35 per quarter.

*Electricity*. This is charged every 2 months. In Winter, our demand goes up due to the necessary use of an immersion heater and more roast dinners! In Summer, we have solar heating for hot water, but our pool pump is on for 6 hours a day and the air conditioning is on fairly consistently, so these are our largest bills. Spring and Autumn are the happy medium between these extremes. Average costs for each 2 month period are: Winter €220, Spring €160, Summer €300, Autumn €160.

*Gas*. We have gas central heating and use it whenever we feel the chill which is mainly evenings between mid December and late March. The tank is topped up every 2 weeks and each top up (depending on use) is between €80 and €120.

*Internet*. This is expensive in Cyprus compared to the U.K. We have a 10Mb connection which is adequate for our needs - even when these needs increase with visitors all using iPads at the same time as us and IPTV on the go too! Including VAT this costs us €47 per month with Cyta.

*Insurance*. We have Medical Insurance which cost us around €3k per year (we are age 62 and 60 with no major conditions). My renewal notice for house contents insurance (we rent here) is €88 per year and similarly, my renewal notice for car insurance is €225. Our car insurance covers any qualified driver who drives with our permission, so our visiting children are all covered and also includes recovery. I haven't yet sought other quotes, so I am sure that I could get this premium down if I rung around.

Hope this helps. I just hope that the exchange rate for AUD-€ is better than our current £-€...


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## deheer69 (Oct 11, 2016)

Hi David and Letitia,

I've send you guys a thank you and i will take all info into account.
We're looking to move towards Paphos possibly in March 2017 due to myself transferring from Oz to Abu Dhabi which will a better way to see my spouse since she and the dog will not be living in Abu Dhabi with me.
Can i be bald and ask you some more questions in regards to living on Cyprus ?
I really would like to know if lving o Cyprus is really that good ?
I can fully understand if retirement is the reason but we're not really close to retire and we both are still working and just wanted to understadn if Cyprus can offer enough for us to keep busy.

Again ,thanks for your help highly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Ralph smit


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Hi Ralph,

Again, a very subjective question and depending very much on which area you choose to live, but I'm very happy to give our personal views. Because we came here on early retirement from a big city (Belfast), we specifically chose to live in a small town (Polis) which has all the amenities we need including a good beach, shops, a good selection of restaurants and bars, good communications, a local hospital and medical centre etc but still retains its old Cypriot charm. For us, Polis also has the perfect mix of expats/tourists (15%) vs locals (85%) and our circle of friends includes both communities. For us, the town of Peyia where the ratio is reversed (often called 'Little Britain') would be anathema. However, if English pubs and a fare of 'pie & chips' is anyone's idea of bliss, then that's the place to be. Again, for us, some of the smaller villages between here and Paphos are just too remote and very limited in facilities to have been considered, although in the height of Summer, some of the higher altitude villages have lower humidity, a more bearable climate and I am aware from friends who live in such places that there is a good rapport between expats and locals in these places. The town of Paphos with its much larger selection of amenities and night life is only a 35 min drive away. It has a thriving tourist industry and more importantly for you, working in the Middle East, an international airport. Limassol is the second biggest city in Cyprus, so the facilities and night life there are much superior to Paphos. However, because it's a centre of commerce, rental/puchase costs of property is relatively higher. It is equidistant between Paphos and Larnaca international airports, so again in your situation it may be a good option. The further East you go on the island, the more barren you will find the landscape and many of the amenities tend to close down for a few months in Winter. This is not the case in Paphos, Limassol and Larnaca.

There is a thriving expat community here of Brits, Swedes, Germans and many others who get together fairly often to socialise (dinners, dances, excursions, music concerts, boules, ten pin bowling etc) whilst also raising money for local animal welfare charities (in my opinion one of the downsides of Cyprus is the poor attitude towards dogs and cats). The expat community are pretty well respected by Cypriots due to their spending power throughout the year.

The weather in July and August can be extremely oppressive (although not as high as where you will be working!), so if that may be a problem for your wife, then you may need to look at a higher altitude location. Late Spring, early Summer and Autumn here are, for us, perfect weather - warm and sunny during the day, lovely balmy evenings and cooler nights.

Hope this all helps. Do you have children needing local schools? If so, this will probably the most important factor for you when choosing where to live in Cyprus.

In conclusion though, we have no regrets about living here and would recommend it to anyone!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

I think David has just about said it all. 
We chose to be close to Paphos because of our our business so we needed to be close to lawyers, banks etc but the Polis coast is very beautiful although if you are regularly commuting between Cyprus and Abu Dhabi you may find being closer to the airport would suityou better. 
There are several nice villages on the Eastern side of Paphos. We are just 12-15 minutes from the airport in our village which is very traditional with not too many Brits.


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## deheer69 (Oct 11, 2016)

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the info provided highly appriciated.
All will be taken into account on our decision in regards to our permanent place to live.
We would like to buy a (cheap) small 1 bedroom app. in the centre of Kato Paphos and start living there for a while and once we get the feel for our needs we would like to rent it out.
Not sure but we want at least 1 property which is fully owned (title deeds) by us so if all goes wrong we have a fully paid place to live.
Depending how we get on the "end goal" will be a small single story house with some land and (big)garage for my hobbies.
Main thing is we want to live without any rent/mortage going forward, we've moved house/country so many times we need a place for ourselves which we can work on without asking for permission.
We'll keep you posted i will be traveling towards Cyprus coming winter to check it out together with the Ms since she and the dog will be the ones who are going to live/work there full time and she'll have the final say.

Cheers.


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## deheer69 (Oct 11, 2016)

Hi David and Letitia,
It's me agian Ralph sorry to bother you but i was hoping to get some tips if possible in regards to our move towards Cyprus.
We've been discussing many options in regards to our next country to stay but we're clear now it will be Cyprus due to access into both Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Currently i'm speaking with a real estate agent who's based in Paphos (we're going for Paphos but indeed the more higher up villages).
OZ is in a bad shape and the forecast is not very bright.
The middle east is buzzling with work so this is also the reason for us to move by this year's ending.
i'll be visiting for the first time this year but wanted to ask you guys what the best time is since i know summer always does present the most favourable situation but according to my info people also encourage on going when the weather is not at his peak.
Reason for my visit will be to see multiple villages and areas.
Have you guys seen achange n the current housing market due to the upcoming Brexit ?
Are the British people and sellin gtheir properties due to this ?

Hope to hear from you.
Tnaks for your itme ,
Cheers,
Ralph


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

I would not recommend coming over to view properties during July and August.

Firstly because it gets very hot and humid and we find when we are showing properties to clients during the really hot months it can be very tiring and uncomfortable. Also most of the developers, lawyers, etc close down for most of August so getting anything done can take ages.

We havn't found that there is a rush to sell by Brits due to the impending brexit although in recent years we have found that more of them keep their UK homes and rent them out using the income to rent here.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

deheer69 said:


> Hi David and Letitia,
> It's me agian Ralph sorry to bother you but i was hoping to get some tips if possible in regards to our move towards Cyprus.
> We've been discussing many options in regards to our next country to stay but we're clear now it will be Cyprus due to access into both Europe, Middle East and Asia.
> Currently i'm speaking with a real estate agent who's based in Paphos (we're going for Paphos but indeed the more higher up villages).
> ...


Hi Ralph,

As Veronica has advised, try to avoid July and August - the weather at that time can be quite oppressive and debilitating for some. It would be far better to visit in September/October which are glorious months for weather in my opinion, have less tourists and have advantages for long term lets.

I would strongly advise you to look for a long term rental before considering taking the plunge to buy. This will ensure that you have made the right choice without the risk of losing money from a rash decision, it allows you time to explore areas and the micro climates they have and also the end of the Summer season is the best time to secure a long term rental property as many landlords who wish to avoid the hassle of short term lets (cleaning, maintenance etc) advertise their properties for long term rental around that time.

Veronica is better placed to advise about the housing market at present as she works in the industry. However, from my perspective, I have two friends who have had their properties on the market for 2 and 3 years respectively and both have sold for the full asking price within the last 4 months. One was sold to an Israeli couple and the other to a British pilot. Both properties were priced over £360k. Having said that, I don't think that Cyprus is out of the woods yet as far as cheaper properties are concerned. There are British Expats who are returning to the UK as a result of the effect of the poor exchange rates at present due to Brexit, but anecdotally, Peter Morton (the Paphos removal people) state that there are as many Brits moving out here as there are moving back.


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