According to the Land Department, the number of salecontracts in December 2018 decreased by 48% compared with December 2017. Thefall comes over nineteen consecutive months of sales growth.
During December, 800 contracts for the sale of commercialand residential properties, plots, weremade to the Land Registry compared to 1537 in December 2017. However, this fallmay not be as significant as it may seem at first glance. In December 2017,there was a surge in sales of land for construction after the decision of theParliament in November 2017 to introduce 19% VAT on the sale of land fromJanuary 2, 2018.
Of these 800 contracts, 450 (43.8%) were for property bought by Cypriots, and 350 (56.3%) for propertyacquired by non-Cypriots; 135 are EU citizens and 215 are third countrynationals.
Sales fell in all areas. As a percentage, sales in Famagustafell by 73%, in Nicosia - by 57%, and sales in Limassol - by 45%. Meanwhile,sales in Paphos and Larnaca fell by 43% and 34%, respectively.
Despite the decline in December, the total number of salesin 2018 was the highest in history since 2008, when 14,667 properties weresold. With the exception of Larnaca, where sales remained stable, theyincreased in all other areas. In Nicosia, the capital of the island and themain business center, sales increased by 10%, while sales in Limassol, thecommercial center and port, grew by 8%. Annual sales in Paphos and Famagustagrew by 5% and 2% respectively.
According to the Department’s statistics, during December2018, not Cypriots handed over 350 property purchase and sale contracts, ofwhich 135 (38.6%) were handed over by EU citizens, and the remaining 215(61.4%) were citizens of non-EU countries.
Paphos remains the most popular area with a foreign market,where the number of sales contracts was 170, while in Limassol there are 89, inLarnaca - 51, in Nicosia - 23 and Famagusta - 17.
During 2018, a total of 4,367 contracts for the sale of realestate to foreign buyers were handed over, of which 1,428 were surrendered byEU citizens, and the remaining 2,939 were non-EU citizens.