ACCORDING to the Land Registry figures published on Wednesday, the number of contracts of sale deposited at Land Registries throughout Cyprus on behalf of overseas buyers during October was 191 compared to 180 in September and 117 in October 2009.
Last month, the number of properties purchased by overseas buyers increased in all Districts. The best performing District was Famagusta, where sales were up by 119% compared to last year. This was followed by Larnaca, where sales were up by 100%, then Paphos up by 61%, followed by Limassol up 40% and finally in Nicosia where sales were up 23% compared to the numbers sold in October last year.
Nationally, the number of properties sold to overseas buyers during the first 10 months of 2010 was 1,593; up by nearly 8% on the 1,480 sold during the same period last year (but down by more than 50% on the 6,118 sold during the first 10 months of 2008).
Although total sales are heightening fears of a much longer crisis in the Island’s property industry, it appears that efforts to attract overseas buyers from Russia, the Arabic countries and Iran may be paying dividends.