Property sales record sharp drop in May

WITH THE COVID-19 pandemic affecting almost every sector of Cyprus economy, including the real estate market where the number of property sales contracts deposited at Land Registry offices across the island recorded a sharp drop of 71% in May according to official figures from the Department of Lands and Surveys.

Limassol was the hardest hit with sales falling by 79% compared to May 2019, while Paphos suffered a fall of 70%. Meanwhile, sales in Famagusta, Larnaca and Nicosia fell by 68%, 66% and 53% respectively.

However, it should be remembered that there was a huge spike in sales in May 2019 as many foreigners rushed to by property before more stringent criteria were imposed on foreigners seeking a Cypriot passport under the provisions of the government’s “Cyprus Investment Programme“.

Total Property Sale Contracts – 2019/2020 Comparison

District	Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Nicosia	2019	161	194	131	169	213	145	174	103	137	183	208	180
	2020	197	178	139	38	100
Famagusta	2019	53	48	45	96	87	43	49	30	40	50	48	64
	2020	50	47	41	10	28
Larnaca	2019	114	125	118	140	173	102	157	93	102	160	122	162
	2020	147	118	106	24	59
Limassol	2019	251	256	287	428	546	219	286	196	240	228	296	284
	2020	180	225	143	72	112
Paphos	2019	187	211	185	224	404	205	230	166	173	192	233	220
	2020	168	171	81	72	120
Totals	2019	766	834	766	1057	1423	714	896	588	662	813	907	910
	2020	742	739	510	216	419

During the first five months of 2020 property sales have fallen by 46%.

Domestic property sales

Property sales to the domestic market (which accounted for 53% of all sales in the month) fell by 72% compared to May 2019 with sales falling in all districts.

Paphos and Famagusta saw the biggest fall, down 82% compared to the same month last year. Sales in Limassol fell 78%, while sales in Larnaca and Nicosia fell 66% and 51% 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	155	124	29	83
Famagusta	2019	32	19	16	58	45	25	2	13	16	33	13	26
	2020	10	18	16	6	8
Larnaca	2019	54	82	47	73	83	42	90	53	67	81	69	88
	2020	76	64	56	13	28
Limassol	2019	166	152	192	291	329	138	177	134	176	144	210	212
	2020	98	136	76	23	73
Paphos	2019	30	31	28	69	175	69	54	54	34	66	64	69
	2020	55	29	26	21	31
Totals	2019	409	448	398	628	800	395	476	344	407	487	543	549
	2020	417	402	298	92	223

During the first five months of 2020 property sales to the domestic market have fallen by 47%.

Overseas property sales

Property sales to the overseas market fell by 69% compared to May 2019 with sales falling in all districts.

Sales in Limassol fell 82%, sales in Larnaca fell 66%, sales in Nicosia were down 62% and sales in Paphos and Famagusta were down 61% and 52% respectively.

Total Overseas Property Sale Contracts – 2019/2020 Comparison

District	Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Nicosia	2019	34	30	16	32	45	24	21	13	23	20	21	26
	2020	19	23	15	9	17
Famagusta	2019	21	29	29	38	42	18	47	17	24	17	35	38
	2020	40	29	25	4	20
Larnaca	2019	60	43	71	67	90	60	67	40	35	79	53	74
	2020	71	54	50	11	31
Limassol	2019	85	104	95	137	217	81	109	62	64	84	86	72
	2020	82	89	67	49	39
Paphos	2019	157	180	157	155	229	136	176	112	139	126	169	151
	2020	113	142	55	51	89
Totals	2019	357	386	368	429	623	319	420	244	285	326	364	361
	2020	325	337	212	124	196

During the first five months of 2020 property sales to the overseas market have fallen by 45%.

Sales to EU citizens

Property sales to the EU segment of the overseas market fell by 65% compared to May 2019 with sales falling in all districts.

Larnaca was hardest hit with sales falling by 85%. Sales in Paphos fell 70%, while sales in Famagusta fell 60% and sales in both Limassol and Nicosia fell 50%.

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	12	9	3	10
Famagusta	2019	9	6	14	17	10	8	17	14	10	5	9	23
	2020	6	14	10	3	4
Larnaca	2019	12	12	21	18	20	11	16	13	6	23	14	23
	2020	21	13	11	0	3
Limassol	2019	16	25	20	21	28	26	27	17	25	30	26	25
	2020	28	30	11	12	14
Paphos	2019	56	72	61	48	69	59	73	58	61	95	61	72
	2020	40	60	25	24	21
Totals	2019	107	129	125	123	147	120	146	107	110	133	125	157
	2020	104	129	66	42	52

During the first five months of 2020 property sales to the EU segment of the overseas property market have fallen by 38%.

Sales to non-EU citizens

Property sales to the non-EU segment of the overseas market fell by 70% compared to May 2019 with sales falling in all districts.

Limassol reported the biggest fall with sales falling by 87% compared to May 2019, while Nicosia suffered a fall of 72%. Meanwhile, sales in Larnaca, Paphos and Famagusta fell by 60%, 58% and 50% respectively.

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	11	6	6	7
Famagusta	2019	12	23	15	21	32	10	30	3	14	12	26	15
	2020	34	15	15	1	16
Larnaca	2019	48	31	50	49	70	49	51	27	29	56	39	51
	2020	50	41	39	11	28
Limassol	2019	69	79	75	116	189	55	82	45	39	54	60	47
	2020	54	59	56	37	25
Paphos	2019	101	108	96	107	160	77	103	54	78	61	108	79
	2020	73	82	30	27	68
Totals	2019	250	257	243	306	476	199	274	137	175	193	239	204
	2020	221	208	146	82	144

During the first five months of 2020 property sales to the non-EU segment of the overseas property market have fallen by 48%.

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 (May)	1,194	1,432	45.5%	2,626
Totals	71,067	159,706	30.8%	230,773

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).

1 COMMENT

Lost Faith in Justice June 8, 2020 At 12:44

How many of these “sales” have been made to, or by Banks from re-possessed properties under CHF contracts that contain unfair terms which the Cyprus Court has no procedure for examining, but the Croation court (and others) has anulled because of invalidity and the CJEU under settled case law requires an ex officio examination?

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Property sales record sharp drop in May

Domestic property sales

Overseas property sales

Sales to EU citizens

Sales to non-EU citizens

Analysis of property sales since 2000

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