Cyprus property sales continued to rise in April with thenumber of sales contracts deposited at Land Registry Offices across theRepublic up 29 per cent compared with April 2017
This follows increases of 23% in March, 46% in February, and64% in January. During April a total of 655 contracts or the sale ofresidential and commercial properties and land (building plots and fields) weredeposited at Land Registry offices across Cyprus, compared with the 506deposited in April 2017.
The figures show a continuing improvement in the economicconditions, coupled with government measures (such as the citizenship byinvestment scheme) – and although banks remained burdened with very high levelsof non-performing loans (NPLs) they are now in a better position to grant loansto those buying property.
(It should be noted that the figures include an unspecifiednumber of properties acquired by banks as part of loan restructurings.) Of the655 contracts deposited, 326 (49.8%) were for properties purchased bynon-Cypriots.
Sales rose in all districts. In percentage terms Famagustaled the way with sales rising by 79% followed by Nicosia, where sales rose by46%. Meanwhile sales in Larnaca and Paphos rose by 20% and 15% respectively.Limassol recorded the highest number of sales during April reaching 246.
During the first five months of 2018 the number of contractsfor the sale of property deposited at Land Registry offices has risen 38% to2,784 compared to the 2,011 deposited during the first five months of 2017. Thehighest rise of 76%, was recorded in Famagusta, followed by Nicosia (thecapital) with a 60% increase. Rises of 42%, 36% and 7% were recorded inLimassol, Paphos and Larnaca respectively.
The Land Registry figures reveal that a total of 326property sale contracts were deposited by non-Cypriots during April 2018. Ofthose 64 were deposited by EU nationals and the remaining 232 by non-EUnationals, but we cannot quantify the number of non-EU citizens who boughtproperty with a view to applying for citizenship. Paphos remained the mostpopular district with the overseas market with the number of property salescontracts deposited reaching 136. Limassol recorded 84, Larnaca 42, Famagusta40 and Nicosia 24.