Overseas property sales drop 15%

THE FALL in sales of property to the overseas (non-Cypriot) reached 15% in November compared to November 2018.

Sales had been growing for several months until they peaked in May, immediately before Cyprus introduced stricter criteria for foreigners seeking to buy citizenship and passports under the governments ‘Citizenship by Investment’ scheme.

It is clear that a number of British as well as non-EU citizens have applied for citizenship. In an article ‘Exclusive: The Brits who won’t Brexit‘ published yesterday, Reuters named a number of UK Conservative donors who “quietly took steps to stay inside the European Union”. They include billionaire Alan Howard, one of Britain’s best-known hedge fund managers, and Jeremy Isaacs CBE, the former head of Lehman Brothers for Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Both ‘acquired’ Cypriot citizenship in 2018 according to government documents seen by Reuters.

We expect that many other Britons have applied for Cypriot citizenship to stay inside the European Union, but the government has consistently refused to release the names or nationalities of applicants although some have been leaked in the local press.

On November 7 in-cyprus reported that the Cyprus naturalisation scheme had reached its limit, with the number of applications apparently exceeding the annual limit of 700 for the remainder of 2019 and 2020; officials were considering suspending the scheme until 2021. But it was decided not to suspend the scheme at this stage. However, all new applications will be considered in 2021 unless a high number of pending applications are rejected.

In an unexpected development earlier this month, one of the three-members of the committee set up to review the individuals who obtained some 4,000 passports under the ‘Citizenship by Investment’ scheme resigned. Rea Georgiou, the Accountant General of the Republic, did not wish to comment on the reasons that led to her decision, but merely stated that ‘they are purely personal’.

Property sales

As we reported on 4th December, Cyprus saw a slight fall of 2% in the number of sales contracts deposited at Land Registry offices in November compared to November 2018.

Of the 907 contracts deposited, 543 (60%) were deposited by local (Cypriot) purchasers and the remaining 364 (40%) by foreign buyers of whom 125 were EU nationals and 239 non-EU nationals.

Domestic property sales

Sales to Cypriot purchasers rose 9% in November compared to November 2018. While sales in Larnaca and Famagusta fell by 16% and 7% respectively – and remained steady in Paphos, sales in Nicosia rose by 33% and in Limassol by 7%.

Between January and November 2019, sales to the domestic market have risen by 21% to reach 5,355 compared to 4,425 over the same period last year.

Domestic Property Sale Contracts – 2018/2019 Comparison

District	Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Nicosia	2018	126	84	104	93	135	123	155	84	97	126	141	108
	2019	127	164	115	137	168	121	153	90	114	163	187
Famagusta	2018	-3	18	18	12	34	27	18	29	21	36	14	29
	2019	32	19	16	58	45	25	2	13	16	33	13
Larnaca	2018	60	44	67	41	55	61	41	47	60	46	82	52
	2019	54	82	47	73	83	42	90	53	67	81	69
Limassol	2018	107	152	199	162	169	207	194	174	175	176	196	201
	2019	166	152	192	291	329	138	177	134	176	144	210
Paphos	2018	18	8	43	21	43	55	62	48	32	24	64	60
	2019	30	31	28	69	175	69	54	54	34	66	64
Totals	2018	308	306	431	329	436	473	470	382	385	408	497	450
	2019	409	448	398	628	800	395	476	344	407	487	543

(Note that some of these sales may have resulted from properties acquired by banks as part of loan restructuring agreements, debt for asset swaps, etc.)

Overseas property sales

As we headlined, sales to the overseas market dropped 15% in November compared to November 2018.

Although sales in Famagusta, Nicosia and Paphos rose 6%, 5% and 2% respectively, these rises were more than wiped out by falls of 42% in Limassol and 13% in Larnaca.

Between January and November, sales to the overseas market have risen by 3% to reach 4,121 compared to 4,017 over the same period last year.

Total Overseas Property Sale Contracts – 2018/2019 Comparison

District	Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Nicosia	2018	20	12	22	24	18	23	21	7	21	19	20	23
	2019	34	30	16	32	45	24	21	13	23	20	21
Famagusta	2018	51	34	22	40	45	34	43	21	24	21	33	17
	2019	21	29	29	38	42	18	47	17	24	17	35
Larnaca	2018	52	55	49	42	58	72	71	47	61	70	61	51
	2019	60	43	71	67	90	60	67	40	35	79	53
Limassol	2018	118	104	115	84	113	131	120	88	76	113	148	89
	2019	85	104	95	137	217	81	109	62	64	84	86
Paphos	2018	146	155	129	136	158	125	171	108	120	180	166	170
	2019	157	180	157	155	229	136	176	112	139	126	169
Totals	2018	387	360	337	326	392	385	426	271	302	403	428	350
	2019	357	386	368	429	623	319	420	244	285	326	364

Overseas sales (EU nationals)

Sales to EU Nationals fell 13% in November compared to November last year.

Although sales in Nicosia and Larnaca rose 114% and 27% respectively, there were falls of 32% in Limassol, 31% in Famagusta and 18% in Paphos.

Between January and November, sales to EU nationals have risen by 6% to reach 1,372 compared to 1,293 over the same period last year.

Foreign (EU) Property Sale Contracts – 2018/2019 Comparison

District	Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Nicosia	2018	10	8	8	10	9	8	11	5	10	8	7	15
	2019	14	14	9	19	20	16	13	5	8	10	15
Famagusta	2018	15	24	8	12	19	16	20	9	0	7	13	6
	2019	9	6	14	17	10	8	17	14	10	5	9
Larnaca	2018	9	9	9	6	9	20	15	11	15	13	11	19
	2019	12	12	21	18	20	11	16	13	6	23	14
Limassol	2018	15	17	32	17	19	22	25	24	11	27	38	20
	2019	16	25	20	21	28	26	27	17	25	30	26
Paphos	2018	41	58	55	49	70	60	79	55	49	91	74	73
	2019	56	72	61	48	69	59	73	58	61	95	61
Totals	2018	90	116	113	94	126	126	150	104	85	146	143	135
	2019	107	129	125	123	147	120	146	107	110	133	125

Overseas sales (non-EU nationals)

Property sales to non-EU nationals fell by 16% in November compared to November 2018.

Although there were rises of 30% in Famagusta and 17% in Paphos, there were falls of 54% in Nicosia, 45% in Limassol and 22% in Larnaca.

During the first 11 months of 2019, sales to non-EU nationals have risen by 1% to reach 2,749 compared to 2,724 over the same period last year.

Foreign (Non-EU) Property Sale Contracts – 2018/2019 Comparison

District	Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Nicosia	2018	10	4	13	14	9	15	10	2	11	11	13	8
	2019	20	17	7	13	25	8	8	8	15	10	6
Famagusta	2018	36	10	14	28	26	18	23	12	24	14	20	9
	2019	12	23	15	21	32	10	30	3	14	12	26
Larnaca	2018	43	46	40	36	49	52	56	36	46	57	50	32
	2019	48	31	50	49	70	49	51	27	29	56	39
Limassol	2018	103	87	83	67	94	109	95	64	65	87	110	69
	2019	69	79	75	116	189	55	82	45	39	54	60
Paphos	2018	105	97	74	87	88	65	92	53	71	89	92	97
	2019	101	108	96	107	160	77	103	54	78	61	108
Totals	2018	297	244	224	232	266	259	276	167	217	257	285	215
	2019	250	257	243	306	476	199	274	137	175	193	239

Analysis of property sales 2000-2019

Cyprus Property Sale Contracts 2000 – 2019

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	2,406	6,328	27.5%	8,734
2018¹	4,367	4,875	47.3%	9,242
2019 (Nov)	4,121	5,335	43.6%	9,456
Totals	69,512	157,725	30.6%	227,237

¹ The Department of Lands & Surveys has advised that overseas sales in 2018 and subsequent year should not be compared to sales in previous years due to changes in the methodology used to classify ‘Aliens’ (foreigners).

4 COMMENTS

Deanna December 23, 2019 At 13:37

@ Ed: re Wassailing……

Did you see any of the TV-coverage at Stonehenge? Always wanted to be there for this magical time, but will have to be content with joining them from afar….
Deanna December 22, 2019 At 00:54

@ Ed: Indeed, the pagan celebrations for Solstice were copied-over into the – later – Christmas celebrations.

Have been reading-up about these links; I’ll stick to celebrating Nature in the pagan way, but – each to his own eh?…..

Ed: I guess you’ll be off to the orchard for a spot of wassailing :-)
Steve December 21, 2019 At 21:06

I lived almost forty years in Europe, but finally in one country long enough to apply for citizenship, so now I have a UK and an NL Passport. Having said that, I have a lot of sympathy with Brexiteers. Coming from East Manchester, I know a lot of people in the North of England who have gained nothing from the EU and have sacrificed a lot, while others in the UK reaped the benefits.

What surprises me is that so many TItans of UK Industry left it so long to join Europe in a personal capacity.
Deanna December 21, 2019 At 12:09

Thank you Nigel for all your interesting, and valuable updates throughout the year.

Wishing you a happy festive season – and don’t forget (to me, the most important day of December) tonight plus tomorrow = winter Solstice. The beginning of the return of light and life to this side of our planet.

Happy days.

Ed: Thank you Deanna – episis. I guess you’re aware of the ancient link between the winter Solstice and Christmas.

Comments are closed.

Property sales

Domestic property sales

Overseas property sales

Overseas sales (EU nationals)

Overseas sales (non-EU nationals)

Analysis of property sales 2000-2019

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