Overseas Property Investors Help Boost Cyprus Property

The Cyprus property market seems to be recovering with help from overseas property investors.

Figures from the latest Cyprus property index produced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed that house prices were up by 1.7 per cent and apartments by 0.7 per cent in the last quarter of 2016.

Prices for holiday homes showed stronger growth, with apartments up by 2.3 per cent and houses by 2.2 per cent.

Sales transactions were also up as the Cyprus economy showed a seasonally adjusted quarterly GDP growth of 0.7 per cent, resulting in healthy annual growth of 2.9 per cent for 2016.

Rents on Cyprus property were also up on a quarterly basis, with average rental values nationally rising by 2.9 per cent for houses and 1.8 per cent for apartments.

Average rents achieved on houses were up by 8.7 per cent over 2016, leading to yields of 2.1 per cent by the end of the year.

Apartment rents rose by slightly less over the year at 6.6 per cent, but still showed stronger overall average yields of 4 per cent by the end of 2016.

More recent data released by the Department of Lands and Surveys showed property sales in April 2017 slightly down nationally by 2 per cent when compared to April 2016, though this greatly varied by area.

The most popular destinations for British and most overseas property investors saw sales rise, with property sales in Paphos up 27 per cent year-on-year in April, and Limassol up by 16 per cent. Sales in Larnaca and Famagusta however fell.

The same could be said for figures covering the first four months of 2016, with Paphos and Limassol recording property sales rises of 22 and 16 per cent respectively. Sales in Larnaca and Famagusta again countered this with drops of 12 and 13 per cent.

Overseas property investors seem to be showing interest in Cyprus property again though.

Sales to International buyers were up strongly, by 36 per cent in Paphos, 26 per cent in Larnaca, and even by 25 per cent in Famagusta. Only the capital Nicosia and Larnaca saw falls in sales to overseas buyers, and even then only by 3 and 1 per cent respectively.

It seems Cyprus property is getting back on track.