In its annual review of the Cyprus property market, PwCreports that the value of transactions in the residential real estate sectorreached 3.1 billion Euros, which accounted for 73% of the total market volume.
The annual review of the Cyprus property marketPRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (PwC) contains information about the economy of Cyprusas a whole and a brief overview of the main events in the real estate market.Regarding activity levels, PwC reports that in 2018 the total number of Cyprusproperties that passed through the Department of Land Resources and Surveys(DLS), in terms of both sale and transfer agreements, reached 15,800; anincrease of 1.9% year on year. However, the total value of these propertiesfell by 7% to 4.2 billion euros, mainly due to PwC's decline in large-scaletransactions, which fell by 240 million euros (31%) compared to 2017.
But compared to 2013, when only 5,800 transactions were madein Cyprus, investment in Cyprus property almost quadrupled in 2018.
(PwC notes that its analysis was based on data from the DLS— and that it excludes asset swaps, transactions through the sale of companyshares or stock units, and other transactions that were not registered orproperly registered with DLS.)
Residential Properties
In 2018, the value of the transaction in the residentialreal estate sector, which consisted of a total of 10,600 real estate objects,reached EUR 3.1 billion, which represents 73% of the total market (apartments41% and houses 32%). Limassol accounted for 46% of transactions by value and33% by the number of objects sold. (Nicosia accounted for a quarter of transactions,but only 16% in value terms, which indicates that on average, transactions havea lower cost than the coastal cities of Limassol and Paphos.)
In 2018, foreigners acquired a total of 4,367properties in Cyprus (according to the number of sale and purchase agreementsdeposited in the DLS). The largest share in sales contracts filed by foreignbuyers was in Paphos (40%), followed by Limassol (30%). The two coastal regionstogether account for 70% of foreign transactions. Approximately 67% of propertiesacquired by foreigners are buyers outside the EU. In Limassol, 79% of foreigntransactions relate to buyers from non-EU countries, while purchases of buyersfrom non-EU countries in Paphos and Larnaca accounted for 57% and 78%,respectively.
Elite real estate
The interest of foreign buyers, and mostly buyers fromnon-EU countries, continued to be the driving force of the market. The eliteresidential real estate segment (≥ 1.5 million Euros) was largely fueled by thecontinuation of government schemes that encourage investment in Cyprus.
The total number of elite residential real estatetransactions for the year reached 324, which corresponds to an annual increaseof 2%.
In terms of cost of sales, the segment amounted to 810million euros, which slightly exceeds 800 million euros in 2017 and accountedfor 19% of the total value of all real estate completed in Cyprus in 2018.