CYPRUS property sales fell 9 per cent in February 2017 compared to February last year according to the official statistics published by the Department of Lands and Surveys; the first recorded monthly fall since August 2015.
During February a total of 456 contracts for the sale of residential and commercial properties and land (building plots and fields) were deposited at Land Registry offices across Cyprus, compared with the 501 deposited in February 2016.
Of those 456 contracts, 343 (78%) were deposited by Cypriot purchasers and 113 (22%) were deposited by overseas purchasers.
Sales fell in all districts. In percentage terms property sales in Famagusta fell by 46% and those in Paphos fell by 13%. Meanwhile sales in Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol fell 8%, 7% and 1% respectively.
Total Property Sale Transactions – 2016/2017 Comparison
| District | Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicosia | 2016 | 54 |
79 |
82 |
79 | 82 | 98 | 102 | 64 | 81 | 80 | 86 | 144 |
| 2017 | 72 | 73 | |||||||||||
| Famagusta | 2016 | 22 |
35 | 33 |
35 |
24 | 34 |
27 | 41 | 32 | 47 | 19 | 87 |
| 2017 | 21 | 19 | |||||||||||
| Larnaca | 2016 | 78 |
108 | 121 |
127 |
103 | 120 |
123 | 81 | 121 | 111 | 114 | 153 |
| 2017 | 102 | 100 | |||||||||||
| Limassol | 2016 | 92 |
179 | 197 |
166 |
145 | 222 |
220 | 129 | 195 | 270 | 249 | 432 |
| 2017 | 132 | 177 | |||||||||||
| Paphos | 2016 | 81 |
100 | 106 |
107 |
120 | 183 |
153 | 136 | 127 | 126 | 183 | 318 |
| 2017 | 96 | 87 | |||||||||||
| Totals | 2016 | 327 |
501 | 539 |
514 |
474 | 657 |
625 | 451 | 556 | 634 | 651 | 1134 |
| 2017 | 423 | 456 |
Domestic property sales
Property sales to the domestic (Cypriot) in February fell 20% compared to February 2016 with sales falling in all districts.
Sales in Famagusta fell 45% and sales in Paphos fell 35%. Meanwhile sales in Limassol, Larnaca and Nicosia fell 18%, 17% and 1% respectively
Domestic Property Sale Transactions – 2016/2017 Comparison
| District | Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicosia | 2016 | 43 |
70 |
10 |
69 | 68 | 92 | 94 | 58 | 75 | 70 | 73 | 116 |
| 2017 | 63 | 69 |
|||||||||||
| Famagusta | 2016 | 20 | 31 | 21 |
33 |
24 | 7 | 19 | 32 | 22 | 37 | 9 | 72 |
| 2017 | 20 | 17 | |||||||||||
| Larnaca | 2016 | 68 | 96 | 85 |
91 |
93 | 75 | 91 | 67 | 90 | 81 | 74 | 114 |
| 2017 | 77 | 80 | |||||||||||
| Limassol | 2016 | 68 | 158 | 145 |
122 |
126 | 162 | 156 | 101 | 142 | 202 | 196 | 307 |
| 2017 | 97 | 130 | |||||||||||
| Paphos | 2016 | 61 | 72 | 59 |
65 |
105 | 126 | 74 | 88 | 98 | 83 | 111 | 171 |
| 2017 | 73 | 47 | |||||||||||
| Totals | 2016 | 260 | 427 | 382 |
380 |
416 |
462 |
434 | 346 | 427 | 473 | 463 | 780 |
| 2017 | 330 | 343 |
Overseas property sales
Property sales to the overseas (non-Cypriot) market during February 2017 rose 53% compared to the same month last year with 113 contracts of sale deposited compared with 74 in February 2016.
Although sales in Nicosia and Famagusta fell by 56% and 50% respectively, these falls were more than outweighed by a 124% increase in Limassol, a 67% increase in Larnaca and a 43% increase in Paphos.
Overseas Property Sale Transactions – 2016/2017 Comparison
| District | Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicosia | 2016 | 11 |
9 |
10 |
10 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 28 |
| 2017 | 9 |
4 |
|||||||||||
| Famagusta | 2016 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
2 |
0 |
27 |
8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 15 |
| 2017 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Larnaca | 2016 | 10 | 12 | 36 |
36 |
10 |
45 |
32 | 14 | 31 | 30 | 40 | 39 |
| 2017 | 25 | 20 | |||||||||||
| Limassol | 2016 | 24 | 21 | 52 |
44 |
19 |
60 |
64 | 28 | 53 | 68 | 53 | 125 |
| 2017 | 35 | 47 | |||||||||||
| Paphos | 2016 | 20 | 28 | 47 |
42 |
15 |
57 | 79 | 48 | 29 | 43 | 72 | 147 |
| 2017 | 23 | 40 | |||||||||||
| Totals | 2016 | 67 | 74 | 157 |
134 |
58 |
195 |
191 | 105 | 129 | 161 | 188 | 354 |
| 2017 | 93 | 113 |
During the first two months of 2017, 206 contracts of sale have been deposited by foreign buyers and 107 properties have been transferred to overseas buyers.
Cyprus Property Sale Transactions 2000 – 2017
| Year | Overseas Sales | Domestic Sales | Percentage Overseas Sales |
Total Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 450 | 12,214 | 3.6% | 12,664 |
| 2001 | 1,207 | 12,849 | 8.6% | 14,056 |
| 2002 | 2,548 | 14,111 | 15.3% | 16,659 |
| 2003 | 3,981 | 15,294 | 20.7% | 19,275 |
| 2004 | 5,384 | 11,947 | 31.1% | 17,331 |
| 2005 | 6,485 | 10,106 | 39.1% | 16,591 |
| 2006 | 8,355 | 8,598 | 49.3% | 16,953 |
| 2007 | 11,281 | 9,964 | 53.1% | 21,245 |
| 2008 | 6,636 | 8,031 | 45.2% | 14,667 |
| 2009 | 1,761 | 6,409 | 21.6% | 8,170 |
| 2010 | 2,030 | 6,568 | 23.6% | 8,598 |
| 2011 | 1,652 | 5,366 | 23.5% | 7,018 |
| 2012 | 1,476 | 4,793 | 23.5% | 6,269 |
| 2013 | 1,017 | 2,750 | 27.0% | 3,767 |
| 2014 | 1,193 | 3,334 | 26.4% | 4,527 |
| 2015 | 1,349 | 3,603 | 27.2% | 4,952 |
| 2016 |
1,813 | 5,250 | 25.7% | 7,063 |
| 2017 (Feb) | 206 | 673 | 23.4% | 879 |
| Totals |
58,824 | 141,860 | 29.3% | 200,684 |
Delusional people, burying heads in the sand hoping this will change without doing anything to address the problems that have existed for years. They whole thing will collapse once the European market inevitably collapses! They will have no one to bail them out by concealing the real level of debts the banks have and have to face up to the reality of the shit they are in.
The volatile nature of the numbers suggests no real sustained recovery. The numbers of sales are so small – these could be a ‘flurry’ from a Chinese property exhibition?
Until the root causes (bank/broker/lawyer/developer) corruption & also incompetence over title deeds – is rectified, the real estate market (unless you were supremely well advised and/or capable and/or very lucky) will remain an unrecoverable shambles. I’ve made this point so many times – I think my fingers now tap over the keyboard on auto-pilot.
One day the Cyprus property market recovering the next day sales are falling who really knows the actual facts.