It has come to my attention that everyone in Cyprus is now talking of property investment and what a great investment it is. A number of people honestly believe that the prices of houses/flats are still low and that they will continue to rise.
I am personally tired of hearing this nonsense and feel sorry for the poor British souls ‘investing’ their life savings thinking they have just purchased a bargain. British property buyers please note:
- The possibilities of obtaining a title to your property is very lengthy and time consuming and in most cases a few years after you actually purchase the property.
- Rent in Cyprus is very low therefore do not expect to purchase a property and pay off your mortgage instalments from the rent.
- Do you think it will be easy selling your used house with all the brand new houses being sold by developers?
- Are you aware that you are paying a high amount of commission to the person introducing you to the developer? This commission ranges between 5 –15% which would be deducted from the price of your property if you walked into the developer’s office yourself straight off the street. By the way, a high number of these ‘English realtors’ with the fancy English company names are taking 10 –15% from the developers so do not feel so rest assured that they are on your side.
- Your legal fees also range between £1000 and £2000 per house. Are you aware that these lawyers are all mates of the developers? Are they actually acting in your best interest? Oh, and by the way they use the same agreement for everyone just change the name and dates (now that’s a great way to make a quick 1,000).
- Has anyone questioned the quality of the houses they are purchasing? Do you know what employees they are using?
- Do you think the developers’ architects/engineers ever visit the sites to ensure for quality and safety? (Just last week in Nicosia 2 employees were killed when a concrete staircase fell on them). Most developers are bringing in cheap labour (Turkish Cypriots) from the Northern part of Cyprus.
- Has anyone looked into the pricing of houses? Most developers will charge anything from £1.000 to £2.500 per sq.m. Are you aware that one can buy a plot of land of 600 sq.m in the range of £20.000 to £40.000 and then build for £350 to £500 per sq.m? Now work that out and see how much houses are sold for.
- Where is all the extra money going? Roads for the project, electricity, pavements, licenses, COMMISSIONS and PROFIT.
I know a lot of letters will come in probably from developers, real estate agents, etc, condemning my letter and justifying what I mentioned above in an attempt to defend themselves, but my above points are facts and we all know it.
The sooner we face these facts and try and improve the industry the better for all of us.
Instead, I believe things will remain as they are, prices will inflate a little more and soon we will witness the bubble bursting just as we have seen with the Cyprus Stock Exchange.
It’s funny how convincing people can be insisting that housing prices in Cyprus will continue increasing and that they will be no decrease just stabilisation… please wake up and smell the coffee.
V. Demetriou,
Ayia Napa
