Of the 756 contracts for the sale of immovable property that were deposited at Land Registry offices across Cyprus in May, 496 (65.6%) were deposited by Cypriot purchasers and 260 (34.4%) were deposited by overseas purchasers.
Overseas Cyprus property sales rocket
Property sales to the overseas (non-Cypriot) market during May 2017 rocketed by a massive 348% compared to May 2016.
Sales rose in all districts. In Famagusta, where not a single property was sold in May 2016, 11 properties were sold in May 2017.
Sales in Paphos rose 533%, while sales in Limassol rose 405%. Meanwhile overseas sales in Larnaca and Nicosia rose 330% and 7% respectively.
Overseas Property Sale Contracts – 2016/2017 Comparison
| District | Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicosia | 2016 | 11 |
9 |
10 |
10 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 28 |
| 2017 | 9 |
4 |
6 |
18 | 15 | ||||||||
| Famagusta | 2016 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
2 |
0 |
27 |
8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 15 |
| 2017 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 6 | 11 | ||||||||
| Larnaca | 2016 | 10 | 12 | 36 |
36 |
10 |
45 |
32 | 14 | 31 | 30 | 40 | 39 |
| 2017 | 25 | 20 | 28 | 20 | 43 | ||||||||
| Limassol | 2016 | 24 | 21 | 52 |
44 |
19 |
60 |
64 | 28 | 53 | 68 | 53 | 125 |
| 2017 | 35 | 47 | 56 | 40 | 96 | ||||||||
| Paphos | 2016 | 20 | 28 | 47 |
42 |
15 |
57 | 79 | 48 | 29 | 43 | 72 | 147 |
| 2017 | 23 | 40 | 80 | 43 | 95 | ||||||||
| Totals | 2016 | 67 | 74 | 157 |
134 |
58 |
195 |
191 | 105 | 129 | 161 | 188 | 354 |
| 2017 | 93 | 113 | 186 | 127 | 260 |
During the first five months of 2017 the number of Cyprus property sales to the overseas market has risen 59% compared to the first five months of 2016.
Domestic property sales
Sales of Cyprus property to the domestic market in May rose by 19% compared to May 2016.
Although sales in Larnaca and Paphos fell by 18% and 16% respectively, they rose by 60% in Limassol, 51% in Nicosia and 13% in Nicosia.
Domestic Property Sale Contracts – 2016/2017 Comparison
| District | Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicosia | 2016 | 43 |
70 |
10 |
69 | 68 | 92 | 94 | 58 | 75 | 70 | 73 | 116 |
| 2017 | 63 | 69 |
71 |
62 |
103 |
||||||||
| Famagusta | 2016 | 20 | 31 | 21 |
33 |
24 | 7 | 19 | 32 | 22 | 37 | 9 | 72 |
| 2017 | 20 | 17 | 24 | 23 | 27 |
||||||||
| Larnaca | 2016 | 68 | 96 | 85 |
91 |
93 | 75 | 91 | 67 | 90 | 81 | 74 | 114 |
| 2017 | 77 | 80 | 85 | 49 | 76 |
||||||||
| Limassol | 2016 | 68 | 158 | 145 |
122 |
126 | 162 | 156 | 101 | 142 | 202 | 196 | 307 |
| 2017 | 97 | 130 | 176 | 152 | 202 |
||||||||
| Paphos | 2016 | 61 | 72 | 59 |
65 |
105 | 126 | 74 | 88 | 98 | 83 | 111 | 171 |
| 2017 | 73 | 47 | 82 | 93 | 88 |
||||||||
| Totals | 2016 | 260 | 427 | 382 |
380 |
416 |
462 |
434 | 346 | 427 | 473 | 463 | 780 |
| 2017 | 330 | 343 | 438 |
379 | 496 |
Property sales since 2000
Cyprus Property Sale Contracts 2000 – 2017
| Year | Overseas Sales | Domestic Sales | Percentage Overseas Sales |
Total Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 450 | 12,214 | 3.6% | 12,664 |
| 2001 | 1,207 | 12,849 | 8.6% | 14,056 |
| 2002 | 2,548 | 14,111 | 15.3% | 16,659 |
| 2003 | 3,981 | 15,294 | 20.7% | 19,275 |
| 2004 | 5,384 | 11,947 | 31.1% | 17,331 |
| 2005 | 6,485 | 10,106 | 39.1% | 16,591 |
| 2006 | 8,355 | 8,598 | 49.3% | 16,953 |
| 2007 | 11,281 | 9,964 | 53.1% | 21,245 |
| 2008 | 6,636 | 8,031 | 45.2% | 14,667 |
| 2009 | 1,761 | 6,409 | 21.6% | 8,170 |
| 2010 | 2,030 | 6,568 | 23.6% | 8,598 |
| 2011 | 1,652 | 5,366 | 23.5% | 7,018 |
| 2012 | 1,476 | 4,793 | 23.5% | 6,269 |
| 2013 | 1,017 | 2,750 | 27.0% | 3,767 |
| 2014 | 1,193 | 3,334 | 26.4% | 4,527 |
| 2015 | 1,349 | 3,603 | 27.2% | 4,952 |
| 2016 |
1,813 | 5,250 | 25.7% | 7,063 |
| 2017 (May) | 781 | 1,986 | 28.2% | 2,767 |
| Totals |
59,399 | 143,173 | 29.3% | 202,572 |
Debt-to-asset swaps
We know that debt-to-asset swaps will be included in the numbers of domestic sales and although no official figures are available, the Greek language Phileleftheros newspaper published an article this morning, which reports:
- Of the 535 properties that were put to auction, a mere 20 have been sold.
- The Bank of Cyprus Real Estate Management Unit (REMU) took over property valued at €128 million during the first quarter of 2017 and at the 31st March 2017 had €1.4 billion worth of properties on its books.
- The banks are now looking at different solutions to meet increasing requirements of the supervisory authorities to consolidate their balance sheets.