Cheap transportable units and permanent prefab homes are two different products that share one word. Here is the honest difference — prices, permits, title deeds — so you spend your budget on the right one.
In Cyprus, 'λυόμενα σπίτια' usually refers to light transportable units — cabins, container conversions and bolt-together kits sold from roughly €20,000–€50,000. They are delivered fast and look like a bargain next to any conventional quote.
The catch is legal status. A dwelling you live in permanently needs planning permission and a building permit, whatever it is made of. Most cheap transportable units are neither designed nor documented for that process — which is why they rarely get a title deed, cannot take a mortgage, are hard to insure and are painful to resell.
A permanent steel-frame prefab home is also factory-made and also fast — but it is engineered, permitted and registered like any house. It stands on a real foundation, carries a 10-year structural warranty, reaches energy class A, and banks finance it because it has a permit and a title.
Our packages are published: shell from €1,299/m², first-fix from €1,599/m², turnkey from €1,899/m² (ex VAT), permits included. A 42 m² permanent studio therefore starts in the same overall budget region people expect to spend on a good cabin — with none of the legal dead ends.
A transportable unit can make sense as a temporary site office, seasonal farm shelter or short-term solution where the land use allows it. It is the wrong tool for a family home, a rental investment or anything you hope to finance or resell — the purchase price is low, but the exit cost is high.
If your real goal is a permanent home on your plot at a controlled price, start from the free plot review: we tell you what your planning zone allows and quote a fixed package. If a cabin genuinely fits your need better, we will say so — everything we build is a permitted, permanent building on a proper foundation.
Light transportable units are typically advertised around €20,000–€50,000 delivered. A permanent, permitted steel-frame home starts at €1,299/m² ex VAT built — so a compact 42 m² permanent studio competes with the upper cabin budgets while gaining a permit, title deed and mortgage eligibility.
If you live in it permanently, yes — planning permission and a building permit apply regardless of construction type. Units placed without permits risk enforcement, cannot get a title deed and are effectively unsellable as homes.
Banks lend against permitted dwellings with title deeds, which most transportable units never obtain. A permanent prefab home with its building permit qualifies like any house.
Both are factory-made. The difference is legal and structural: a permanent prefab home is engineered for a foundation, fully permitted and titled; a transportable unit is designed to be movable and usually stays outside the permit system. One is a house; the other is equipment.
Per square metre it costs more upfront — €1,299–€1,899/m² ex VAT, permits included — but it appreciates as property, can be financed, insured and resold, and carries a 10-year structural warranty. The cabin's low price buys none of that.
Ready to see what your plot can take?
Send your plot details. No obligation, no site visit fee.
Name, phone and area. We reply with a fixed-scope quote.