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29th March 2024
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HomeNewsTwice as many property sales to non-EU citizens

Twice as many property sales to non-EU citizens

NON-EU citizens buying property deposited more than twice the number of contracts at Land Registry offices than EU citizens in January, but with a greater emphasis on the less expensive areas of Famagusta and Larnaca compared to January 2019.

As we reported on Tuesday the first month of the new decade saw a 3 per cent fall in property sales compared to January 2019.

Official figures published on Friday reveal that of the 742 sales contracts for the purchase of property, 417 (44%) were deposited by local (Cypriot) purchasers and the remaining 325 (56%) were deposited by foreign buyers of whom 104 (14%) were EU citizens and 221 (30%) were non-EU citizens.

Looking at sales for each of the three market segments:

Domestic property sales

Property sales to the domestic market, which accounted for 44% of all sales, rose 2% in January compared with January 2019.

While sales in Famagusta and Limassol fell by 69% and 41% respectively, they rose in the remaining three districts. Sales in Paphos rose by 83%, while sales in Larnaca and Nicosia rose by 41% and 40% respectively.

Domestic Property Sale Contracts – 2019/2020 Comparison

District Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Nicosia 2019 127 164 115 137 168 121 153 90 114 163 187 154
2020 178
Famagusta 2019 32 19 16 58 45 25 2 13 16 33 13 26
2020 10
Larnaca 2019 54 82 47 73 83 42 90 53 67 81 69 88
2020 76
Limassol 2019 166 152 192 291 329 138 177 134 176 144 210 212
2020 98
Paphos 2019 30 31 28 69 175 69 54 54 34 66 64 69
2020 55
Totals 2019 409 448 398 628 800 395 476 344 407 487 543 549
2020 417

Nicosia had the highest number of sales (178), followed by Limassol (98), Larnaca (76), Paphos (55) and finally Famagusta (10).

EU property sales

Property sales to the overseas EU market, which accounted for 14% of all sales, fell 3% compared to January 2019.

While sales in Larnaca and Limassol each rose by 75%, these increases were wiped out by falls of 36% in Nicosia, 33% in Famagusta and 29% in Paphos.

Foreign (EU) Property Sale Contracts – 2019/2020 Comparison

District Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Nicosia 2019 14 14 9 19 20 16 13 5 8 10 15 14
2020 9
Famagusta 2019 9 6 14 17 10 8 17 14 10 5 9 23
2020 6
Larnaca 2019 12 12 21 18 20 11 16 13 6 23 14 23
2020 21
Limassol 2019 16 25 20 21 28 26 27 17 25 30 26 25
2020 28
Paphos 2019 56 72 61 48 69 59 73 58 61 95 61 72
2020 40
Totals 2019 107 129 125 123 147 120 146 107 110 133 125 157
2020 104

Paphos remained as the most popular place to by property with the number of sales standing at 40. Paphos was followed by Limassol with 28 sales, Larnaca 21, Nicosia 9 and finally Famagusta with 6 sales.

Non-EU sales

Property sales to the non-EU citizens, which accounted for 30% of all sales and twice the number of sales to EU nationals fell 12% compared to January 2019.

Although sales rose by 183% in Famagusta and 4% in Larnaca, they fell in the remaining three districts. Sales in Nicosia fell 50%, in Paphos they fell 28% and in Limassol by 22%.

It’s noticeable that properties in the two districts where sales rose (Famagusta and Larnaca) are generally less expensive than the other coastal towns of Limassol and Paphos – and the capital, Nicosia.

Foreign (Non-EU) Property Sale Contracts – 2019/2020 Comparison

District Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Nicosia 2019 20 17 7 13 25 8 8 8 15 10 6 12
2020 10
Famagusta 2019 12 23 15 21 32 10 30 3 14 12 26 15
2020 34
Larnaca 2019 48 31 50 49 70 49 51 27 29 56 39 51
2020 50
Limassol 2019 69 79 75 116 189 55 82 45 39 54 60 47
2020 54
Paphos 2019 101 108 96 107 160 77 103 54 78 61 108 79
2020 73
Totals 2019 250 257 243 306 476 199 274 137 175 193 239 204
2020 221

The largest number of properties were sold in Paphos (73), followed by Limassol (54), Larnaca (50), Famagusta (34) and Nicosia (10).

Now that the UK has ceased to be a member of the European Union, it seems likely that that February sales to non-EU nationals will include UK citizens.

Analysis of property sales since 2000

Cyprus Property Sale Contracts 2000 – 2020

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
4,482 5,884 43.2% 10,366
2020 (Jan)
325 417 43.8% 742
Totals
70,198 158,691 30.7% 228,889

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).

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