Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 6th October 2009
Cyprus: Overseas buyers down 76% Y-O-Y
The Cypriot Land Registry has released figures showing property purchases by foreigners has declined 76% in the first nine months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008.
Agents and developers in Cyprus sold 1363 units in the period compared to 5600 a year previously. The areas most affected by the fall are Limassol (-79%) and Larnaca (-83%). Nicosia faired best with foreign purchases dropping just 54%.
Cyprus like Spain has suffered from a sharp decline in British buyers caused by a combination of recession and the strong Euro. Despite the market being a generally safe place to invest, Cyprus has suffered negative media publicity around the title deeds situation which is currently being addressed in parliament.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) anticipates that total property sales (i.e. sales to both Cypriots and non-Cypriots) this year will be more than 50% lower than any of the years 2001-2008.
Despite the gloom, 1363 units sold to overseas buyers this year represents a good volume of business to the agents and developers with the best products and strongest brands. Cyprus came ninth in our recent table of
the most popular overseas property destinations and I know of one Cypriot agent who booked two sales trips last week using our
Global Leads system.
Full story On
Cyprus Property Magazine
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