Are foreign property sales recovering?

The latest figures from the Department of Lands and Surveys indicate that property sales to foreign buyers from the EU countries may be recovering, while sales to non-EU citizens continue to fall.

Property sales to the overseas (non-Cypriot) market continued to fall in September with numbers down 9% compared to September 2019 and by 38% over the first nine months of 2020 compared to the same period last year according to official statistics.

Sales to the overseas market in September accounted for 33% of the total sold during the month.

Total overseas property sales

The total number of property sales to the overseas market during September stood at 260; a fall of 9% compared to the 285 sales achieved in the same month last year.

But it was not all bad news. Although sales fell 37% in Paphos and 9% in Nicosia, they rose in the other three districts. Sales in Limassol rose by 25%, while those in Famagusta and Larnaca rose by 21% and 20% respectively.

Despite the 37% fall in Paphos, it still remains the most popular destination for foreigners buying property in Cyprus.

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	11	21	14	21
Famagusta	2019	21	29	29	38	42	18	47	17	24	17	35	38
	2020	40	29	25	4	20	13	31	30	29
Larnaca	2019	60	43	71	67	90	60	67	40	35	79	53	74
	2020	71	54	50	11	31	38	59	36	42
Limassol	2019	85	104	95	137	217	81	109	62	64	84	86	72
	2020	82	89	67	49	39	52	87	51	80
Paphos	2019	157	180	157	155	229	136	176	112	139	126	169	151
	2020	113	142	55	51	89	83	87	68	88
Totals	2019	357	386	368	429	623	319	420	244	285	326	364	361
	2020	325	337	212	124	196	197	269	199	260

During the first nine months of 2020 the sales to the overseas market have fallen 38% compared to the same period last year.

Sales to EU nationals

Sales to the EU segment of the overseas property market in September accounted for 16% of total sales – and the number of sales rose by 11% compared to September 2019.

Despite a fall in sales of 40% in Famagusta and 20% in Paphos, sales in Larnaca rose 133%, while sales in Nicosia and Limassol rose by 75% and 56% respectively.

Last month Reuters reported that wealthy Britons were looking to “buy” citizenship from countries offering visa-free access to the European Union, including Cyprus. These may account for the rise in sales.

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	7	16	11	14
Famagusta	2019	9	6	14	17	10	8	17	14	10	5	9	23
	2020	6	14	10	3	4	9	28	9	6
Larnaca	2019	12	12	21	18	20	11	16	13	6	23	14	23
	2020	21	13	11	0	3	6	19	17	14
Limassol	2019	16	25	20	21	28	26	27	17	25	30	26	25
	2020	28	30	11	12	14	15	28	12	39
Paphos	2019	56	72	61	48	69	59	73	58	61	95	61	72
	2020	40	60	25	24	21	18	44	32	49
Totals	2019	107	129	125	123	147	120	146	107	110	133	125	157
	2020	104	129	66	42	52	55	135	81	122

During the first nine months of 2020 sales to the EU segment of the overseas market have fallen 29% compared to the same period last year.

Sales to non-EU nationals

Sales to the non-EU segment of the overseas property market in September accounted for 24% of total sales – and the number of sales fell by 21% compared to September 2019.

While sales in Famagusta and Famagusta rose 64% and 5% respectively, these increases were outweighed by falls of 53% in Nicosia, 50% in Paphos and 3% in Larnaca.

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	4	5	3	7
Famagusta	2019	12	23	15	21	32	10	30	3	14	12	26	15
	2020	34	15	15	1	16	4	3	21	23
Larnaca	2019	48	31	50	49	70	49	51	27	29	56	39	51
	2020	50	41	39	11	28	32	40	19	28
Limassol	2019	69	79	75	116	189	55	82	45	39	54	60	47
	2020	54	59	56	37	25	37	43	39	41
Paphos	2019	101	108	96	107	160	77	103	54	78	61	108	79
	2020	73	82	30	27	68	65	43	36	39
Totals	2019	250	257	243	306	476	199	274	137	175	193	239	204
	2020	221	208	146	82	144	142	134	118	138

During the first nine months of 2020 sales to the non-EU segment of the overseas market have fallen 42% compared to the same period last year.

Property sales to the domestic (Cypriot) market

Domestic sales performed strongly in September, increasing by 29% compared to September last year.

Although sales in Limassol fell by 2%, they rose in the remaining for districts.

Sales in Paphos rose 118%, in Famagusta they rose 88% and Nicosia and Larnaca reported rises of 53% and 12% 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	167	230	143	174
Famagusta	2019	32	19	16	58	45	25	2	13	16	33	13	26
	2020	10	18	16	6	8	43	29	9	30
Larnaca	2019	54	82	47	73	83	42	90	53	67	81	69	88
	2020	76	64	56	13	28	71	72	51	75
Limassol	2019	166	152	192	291	329	138	177	134	176	144	210	212
	2020	98	136	76	23	73	150	183	142	173
Paphos	2019	30	31	28	69	175	69	54	54	34	66	64	69
	2020	55	29	26	21	31	18	42	17	74
Totals	2019	409	448	398	628	800	395	476	344	407	487	543	549
	2020	417	402	298	92	223	449	556	362	526

During the first nine months of 2020 the number of sales to the domestic market has fallen by 23% compared to the same period last year.

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 (Sep)	2,119	3,325	38.9%	5,444
Totals	71,992	161,599	30.8%	233,591

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).

Are foreign property sales recovering?

Total overseas property sales

Sales to EU nationals

Sales to non-EU nationals

Property sales to the domestic (Cypriot) market

Analysis of property sales since 2000

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