FIGURES released by the Department of Lands and Surveys earlier today show that 172 property purchase contracts in favour of overseas buyers were deposited at Land Registry offices throughout Cyprus in December; a 48% increase compared with December 2011.
This is the second month in succession that property sales to overseas buyers have improved and a sign that they may be returning to the island.
Exactly a half of those 172 contracts were for properties in Paphos, where sales more than doubled compared with December 2011. Sales also increased in Famagusta, Limassol and Larnaca. Nicosia fared less well; sales were down 22%.
So a positive end to 2012 and an expectation that sales to overseas buyers will continue to improve in the year ahead.
Property developers have put much effort into opening up new markets. At the recent International Property Expo held at the China World Trade Centre in Beijing, Cyprus was the largest international exhibition group with more than 30 booths. Many of the billboards along the Cyprus highways advertising properties for sale are now written in Chinese.
A director at the Expo said moving abroad, securing a sound education and diversifying asset portfolios are the top three reasons why Chinese are purchasing international properties.
Chinese families, ranging from the highly affluent to the middle class’ upper crust, are showing a keener interest in purchasing overseas housing. They are primarily driven abroad not only because of China’s soaring housing prices but because of the government’s curbs on property ownership in the past two years in an attempt to cool prices.
We understand that a number of property developers and representatives from the Ministry of Commerce will be attending the 28th international real estate exhibition DOMEXPO being held in Moscow from the 11th to 14th April.
I’m an Englishman who left the UK many years ago , but I still keep an eye on the property market there , via regular links from Property Finder sights etc.
I have lived in Ukraine for the past few years and have reasontly bought a villa in Cyprus.
All the above comments seem to be from British people , with their point of view. But when writing comments , you must need to remember that it is only from your prospective what you say about Cyprus. For me buying in Cyprus was an excellent move. I have a non-EU family , so now after us buying there we have EU Residency. The economy in Cyprus is not great , but where is now in Europe , Spain , Portugal , Italy , Greece , Ireland ….. Where would you guys recommend ?
Where could I buy a sea view villa for 160,000 euros , that has true market value today at 300,000 euros and get EU Residency for my wife and 2 step daughters ?
Where can I find a EU country that has an English Law Based System , Lowest Crime rate in Europe , a place where is is safe for my daughters to walk out at night without is worrying , a place where we can Ski in the morning and walk on a beautiful beach in the afternoon , a place where it is easy for me that only speaks English and my Russian speaking (and fluent English) family can live , without either of us needing to learn another language ( there are so many native Russian speaking Cypriots that have returned from Russian Speaking Georgia after the collapse of the USSR) .
Cyprus was a natural choice for us and there is not a better suited place for us , in our situation. The Russian speaking countries have flooded into Cyprus and now it is China. Property sales in Paphos are 50% higher than the year before. I
Where can I buy a property for an investment in the UK that gives me a guaranteed rental income return from the Developer of 6% ?
Where can I buy in the UK a property to live that gives me anything like the beautiful lifestyle that we have in Cyprus ?
The old school Expats that have been in Cyprus for 20 years are leaving , as they have also tried to do in many other countries . Is life so much better for them now back in the UK ?
What about the UK crazy property prices and high cost of living , I know where I want to be ……. CYPRUS !
I don’t see any of the figures reflecting the real market.
My property like Mr Swift has gone down in value in the last three years from 250,000 euros to 150,000.
These are detached villas with nice views of the sea.
The last three buyers in the area have been Cypriots.
These numbers are much too small in order to document a trend.
A year end “rally” to beautify statistics?
Can’t see many UK buyers with the stagnant property market in the UK at this moment in time.
Keep getting Buy Sell e-mails with overly inflated prices.
Five years ago my property was valued at £190k (237k euro), today your looking at £154k (188k euro).
Prices in Cyprus have to become more realistic for the market to really pick up.
The maxim, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” springs to mind.
These figures are a total irrelevance. It’s game over, Cyprus, and all who sail in you.
If there are still people out there prepared to buy Cypriot real estate with all the many potential pitfalls, it’s definitely a case of “shame on them” for being fooled not ‘twice’ but thousands of times.
It certainly looks, at least on a 2-3 month view, as if they might be. But it’s going to take a whole lot more than that to rekindle the ‘towards dormant’ overall RoC market.
The country is generally now reckoned internationally to be Bankrupt, it’s banking sector is in complete disarray, an almost certainly OutGoing government, despite Troika involvement and likely impacts, remains now in the ‘blame everybody else’ stage of Denial and who Knows what size, shape, persuasion or competence the Next government will be, the one(s) who will have to start sorting out the Mess?
Long ago I suggested ‘Fasten your Safety Belts’, it might soon be time to press the Eject button!
A 48% increase on a very small number is still a very small number. I don’t think that anyone can read anything into these figures. Only with consistent increases over a long enough period can a true trend be inferred.
Hi Nigel,
Page 12 of this report gives some insight: Dolphin Capital Investors – Interim report
Financial shuffling interesting too !