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18th March 2024
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HomeNewsRise in property sales led by overseas buyers

Rise in property sales led by overseas buyers

Rise in Cyprus property sales by overseas buyersOCTOBER saw the number of property sales in Cyprus to overseas buyers rise by 65% according to official statistics from the Department of Lands & Surveys.

Of the 768 contracts for the sale of immovable property in Cyprus deposited at Land Registry offices, 502 (65.4%) were deposited by Cypriot purchasers and 266 (34.6%) were deposited by overseas property purchasers.

Overseas property sales

Sales increased by 65% compared to October 2016 with sales rising in all districts.

In percentage terms, Famagusta led the way with sales increasing by 130%, followed by Paphos, where they rose by 81%. Meanwhile sales in Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca rose by 70%, 60% and 30% respectively.

Overseas Property Sale Contracts – 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
6
18 15 12 15 6 15 17
Famagusta 2016 2 4 12
2
0
27
8 9 10 10 10 15
2017 1 2 16 6 11 15 29 22 14 23
Larnaca 2016 10 12 36
36
10
45
32 14 31 30 40 39
2017 25 20 28 20 43 26 41 25 34 39
Limassol 2016 24 21 52
44
19
60
64 28 53 68 53 125
2017 35 47 56 40 96 77 75 41 50 109
Paphos 2016 20 28 47
42
15
57 79 48 29 43 72 147
2017 23 40 80 43 95 78 91 79 48 78
Totals 2016 67 74 157
134
58
195
191 105 129 161 188 354
2017 93 113 186 127 260 208 251 173 161 266

During the first ten months of 2017, property sales to the overseas market have risen 45% compared with the same period last year to reach a total of 1,840.

So far this year Paphos is the most popular achieving 655 sales closely followed by Limassol with 626. Larnaca has achieved 301 sales, Famagusta 139 and Nicosia 119.

Domestic property sales

Sales of Cyprus property to the domestic market in August rose by 6% compared to October 2016. Although sales in Famagusta, Larnaca and Limassol fell by 24%, 11% and 2% respectively, these falls were outweighed by increased sales in Nicosia (43%) and Paphos (27%).

Domestic Property Sale Contracts – 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
71
62
103
150
109
70
72
100
Famagusta 2016 20 31 21
33
24 7 19 32 22 37 9 72
2017 20 17 24 23 27
31 30
25
43 28
Larnaca 2016 68 96 85
91
93 75 91 67 90 81 74 114
2017 77 80 85 49 76
70 62
63
73 72
Limassol 2016 68 158 145
122
126 162 156 101 142 202 196 307
2017 97 130 176 152 202
227 194
160
153 197
Paphos 2016 61 72 59
65
105 126 74 88 98 83 111 171
2017 73 47 82 93 88
157 93
81
100 105
Totals 2016 260 427 382
380
416
462
434 346 427 473 463 780
2017 330 343 438
379 496
636 488
399
441 502

During the first ten months of 2017, property sales to the domestic market have risen 11% compared with the same period last year to reach a total of 4,451.

So far this year Limassol is the most popular achieving 1,688 sales followed by Paphos with 919. Nicosia has achieved 869 sales, Larnaca 707 and Famagusta 268.

Cyprus Property Sale Contracts 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 (Oct) 1,840 4,451 29.2% 6,291
Totals
60,458 145,638 29.3% 206,096

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Just to put this in perspective, in round numbers, Birmingham is the same size and population as Cyprus
    In Birmingham in October…….26,000 land registry transactions
    For the U.K. in the same month…..well over 1 million

  2. Good to see Famagusta catching-up. Wish they’d get buyers for the places that are around us, half-finished for 5+ years…..

    If I won the lottery (which I won’t cos I don’t succumb) then I’d buy ’em up and knock ’em down and get our scenic views back again.

  3. Were these overseas investors the Chinese ‘rushing’ to buy assets before the Chinese government banned the sale of Cypriot properties in China and stopped citizens releasing their money from the country to buy them?

    Probably no way of checking the identity of individuals overseas buyers, but would be interesting to see if this is sustainable, or just a ‘flash in the pan’?

Comments are closed.

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