The South China Morning Post newspaper reports that Chineseinvestors are interested in Cyprus passports, despite the more stringentcriteria introduced last month.
Chinese investors are thronging the sunny shores of Cyprusin search of real estate and passports that will allow them to work, travel andlive in the European Union. “Cyprus is a great place that offers a very highquality of life, access to Europe and good investment opportunities in realestate. One of the main catalysts for foreign investment is the CyprusInvestment Program, which is very popular with mainland Chinese, ”according toCarrie Low, executive director and director of the real estate portalJuwai.com.
As part of a program launched in 2013, the purchase of aproperty worth 2 million euros allows investors and their families to obtainCyprus passports, which are granted with all EU citizenship rights. The schemealso requires donations of € 75,000 each for the Cyprus Research andDevelopment Fund. Permanent residence can also be obtained by investing 300,000euros in a completely new property. The permanent residence program providesease of travel throughout the EU and requires one visit to Cyprus of all familymembers once every two years.
Cyprus has attracted 4.8 billion Euros from the sale ofpassports under the investment program since 2013, according to a recent studyby international anti-corruption observers Transparency International andGlobal Witness. And although there is no official data on citizens who boughtproperty in Cyprus, industry representatives reported that over half of thesetransactions fell to the share of Chinese and other Asian investors.
Cyprus Land Department data show that in the first fivemonths of this year, sales of residential buildings, commercial real estate andland reached 4846, which is 34 percent more than in the same period in 2018.Foreign buyers mainly buy residential real estate.
In May, real estate sales reached 1,423, surpassing theprevious record of 1,157 sales, set in September 2008. All transactions in theperiod from January to May amounted to 1.45 billion euros, an increase of 7.6%compared with 1.35 billion euros recorded in the same period last year.“Chinese buyers and investors have made a great contribution to theconstruction sector in Cyprus. The Paphos district attracts many Chinesebuyers, as developers from this region were the first to visit China to promotetheir projects, ”said Sakis Hadzhialeksandru, marketing manager of the group atLeptos Estates.
With a Cyprus passport, investors can easily move to the UK,Switzerland or any of the 28 EU countries. ” Kenneth Kent, head of the HongKong office in the Australian real estate online advertising company REA Group,said that EU membership in Cyprus has increased investor confidence. “Beingpart of the EU gives much more legal protection and transparency. This is ofgreat interest to foreign investors, ”he said.