THE PRICES of residential property in Cyprus rose by 0.4% during the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the third quarter, with prices of apartments and houses rising by 0.9% and 0.2% respectively, according to the Cyprus Central Bank’s Residential Property Price Index.
Although apartment prices in Famagusta and Larnaca fell by 1.9% and 0.2% respectively over the quarter they rose by 0.3% in Nicosia, 2.0% in Nicosia and 2.2% in Paphos.
House prices rose by Famagusta, Larnaca and Limassol rose by 1.0%, 0.7% and 0.3% respectively over the quarter but fell by 0.6% in Paphos and by 0.1% in Nicosia.
Annual property price changes
The Cyprus Central Bank’s Property Price Index reports that apartment and house prices rose by 1.5% during the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the fourth quarter of 2016, with the price of apartments rising by 3.3% and house prices up by 0.9%.
Although apartment prices fell by 0.4% in Famagusta, they rose by 6.3% in Limassol, 3.0% in Nicosia, 0.6% in Paphos and 0.4% in Larnaca.
With the exception of Nicosia, where house prices fell by 0.2% on an annual basis, they rose in the other four districts, with rises of 2.2% in Famagusta, 1.6% in Limassol, 1.1% in Paphos and 0.3% in Larnaca.
Clear signs of recovery
The Central Bank considers that the real estate sector in Cyprus is showing clear signs of recovery from the historically low levels of activity reached during the crisis.
However, the most important remaining challenge is the level of non-performing loans, particularly those of first home buyers.
