Cyprus-Forum.com

[burntout]

Hi,
My girlfriend and I are selling up in England and want to settle permanently in Cyprus. We see lots of property companies saying that living in Cyprus can be much cheaper than living in England but we are struggling to put a figure on how much we need to earn in Cyprus to be comfortable. We will probably buy a property without need of a mortgage so it would just be all the other living costs we need to cover.
It would really help if any of you could give us some guidance on this. Will we need CY£500 a month between us or, CY£700, CY£1000, CY£1500????? Any breakdown of costs would also help imensely.

Thanks.

[DINOS SKALIOTIS]

tbh mate it obviously depends on your life style, me and my mrs find that we need between £700-£1000, basically if you find a half decent job you will be fine, we go out more often in cyprus than we ever could in london, if you eat and drink where cypriots go and not where the tourists go you will be fine, all the bills are cheaper (except internet) petrol just over half price, cars are a bit more expensive but then do what i did and send 1 from england

[Sotos]

Since you will not have to pay for rent then about CY£1000 should be enough for both of you but without much luxuries.

[Crivens]

all the bills are cheaper (except internet)

Electricity is pretty expensive here. Also, from what I've been told, the cost of living was a lot cheaper than the UK 3 or 4 years ago, but these days not so much. I am also rent free and after being here a year it is definitely cheaper. But I'm not exactly laughing manically at how cheap it is either. Not bad, but not as good as some people make out. Plus don't forget wages here are crap.

Cheers

[carolh]

If you come here, be very careful about buying a house. Get an independent solicitor, and don't buy unless it has title deeds! It can years to get them on a new property.

[Get Real!]

One guy says he lives in a village, grows his own veggies and gets by with CY 500 p/m, whereas someone else lives in a city apartment, goes out 2-3 times a week and does clothes/shoes shopping quite often... CY 1500 p/m. You get the drift...

[fagash]

I did a bit of shopping on saturday. I went to Carrefour, Orphanides and Elomas, I try to shop around for the cheapest. Total cost was Cy£42.87.

Because I had nothing better to do this morning, I costed the same items at tesco online. Total was stg£40.55.

200 rothmans royals is £15.33 here
6x33cl cans of carlsberg is on offer for £1.99.
Bottle of aphrodite £1.81
Cheap 1l wine carton around £1 mark.

Rates were £65 for a year. (my bill in UK is £107 a month).
Last leccy bill for 2 months was £66.52.
Last water bill for nearly 3 months was £13.90, but, I use it VERY sparingly because of the water shortage.

Most people will advise you not to buy property straight away, but rent first, it's very wise advice.

[twinkle]

Hubby and I, weekly food shopping anywhere between CYP70-100. We have no kids and don't drink or smoke. Petrol is around CYP60 a week for 2 cars. Electricity about CYP200-250 every 2 months. Then there's water CYP200 every 2 months and the garbage. Gives you a general idea. I wouldn't severe all ties with the UK until you are sure you can manage and will like it here. It is NOT like a holiday trip when you live here.

[Crivens]

Electricity about CYP200-250 every 2 months

That seems a little pricey. I get a about £95 a month in the winter (mainly for oil filled radiators and not inc. gas bottles to take the edge off), but in the summer I didn't get above £75 a month. Then again I don't have the AC on all the time and tend to have it only on in one room at a time. But I do have one computer on 24/7 and another for about 10 hours a day, with a laptop being used about 4 hours a day or so. This is all for 2 people in a good sized 3 bedroom apartment in Limassol.

Cheers

[twinkle]

We have a large house with pool which goes on 4 times a day. Our heating is oil at about CYP250 every 6-8 weeks in the cold winter. Everything in the house is electric.