Cyprus Property Return On Investment "ROI" is Great
In the last few weeks there has been much talk about the Cyprus property market. A
picture of disaster is painted once again of the Cyprus property market. Of course the talk stems from the most recent statistics released by the Cyprus Department of Lands Registry. To be honest, I am tired of these figures because they don't tell the whole story. The statistics show a drop in sales from January 2013 over this January 2014 of 22% which of course looks awful, but we are not looking at huge numbers here. The difference is only 82 sales. 375 homes were sold last year (2013) and 293 sold this year (2014) on the whole entire island. Now lets look at why these figures are not a concern at all.
First I don't want to downplay what happened when the banks shut down. It affected many people in ways that are absolute nightmares, people lost their entire savings and becoming imprisoned by the system that swallowed a good portion of their life savings. I hope for a good outcome for them eventually. Considering the devastation and chaos caused by the banking system people of course doubt and fear trusting banks in Cyprus again. It has greatly effected the housing market recovery but, the housing market needed this maybe just as badly as the banks did. Both sectors were running wild and needed to be harnessed.
The issuance of property title deeds is yet to be resolved. The Cyprus system was so outdated that after years of booming development and every family getting involved in the building industry, a tremendous backlog without the means to process anything in a timely fashion occurred. Add to this banks allowing properties already sold to be mortgaged with second loans to developers that have gone bust. We see that even the smartest minds of the EU are baffled on how to resolve this mess.
Considering all of this a drop of 82 home sale year over year is not so bad. I actually think it's great news and I am very encouraged. January has never been a strong month for any Cyprus business, not for tourism nor property sales. The first January after the banking mess is surely not expected to be a vibrant one.
UK citizens have been the major players in the Cyprus market and as far as I know, the housing market in the UK has not done well lately and at this point in time they remain the nation that Cyprus appeals to the most. As the housing market improves and homeowners are able to sell their properties so will their return to Cyprus in much stronger numbers.
There are interested buyers that are actively looking, we had buyers even throughout the banking shutdown. Interest in Cyprus has never stopped. There are interested sellers and there are sellers who have also had to take their properties off the market as they came to realize that maybe they can wait. As prices fell for the last several years their homes are no where close to where they were when they first purchased and it comes down to does it make sense to sell or keep the home.
I wrote in previous posts about how many homeowners in Cyprus are not desperate, they are not in a must sell situation where the need to sell is urgent because of job or not able to afford the house. Many of my clients are homeowners of second homes and used as a holiday retreat for not only the owners but for an entire family, so deciding to keep their Cyprus property for another year or two is not such a hard decision to make. The numbers from the land registry don't reflect the number of homeowners who withdrew their homes from the market either.
In my opinion there are many reasons to be optimistic about the Cyprus housing market. The main thing being is that the problems (Title deeds, banking sector, developers, and the North/South issue) that have brought us to this point have been identified and are in the public's eye. Everyone who is concerned is now working to resolve the issues in Cyprus. When Cyprus became a full member of the EU growing pains came with it and we will continue to grow and deal with more growing pains. Another huge positive is finding all the natural gas findings they have found that will put Cyprus at the front of providers of the resource for Europe.
Confidence is low, but will surely grow as Cyprus and the new administration continues to do what is necessary to navigate Cyprus into a bright future. I expect that Cyprus will prosper again and as we move forward we must look at statistics considering all the factors involved. When we look at who is buying, we also must see who is selling and who is not. After all we know how many houses sold this January compared to last, but we don't know how many properties are for sale now compared to last year.
If you are looking for a great investment in Cyprus, check out all out property in Cyprus for sale here.
picture of disaster is painted once again of the Cyprus property market. Of course the talk stems from the most recent statistics released by the Cyprus Department of Lands Registry. To be honest, I am tired of these figures because they don't tell the whole story. The statistics show a drop in sales from January 2013 over this January 2014 of 22% which of course looks awful, but we are not looking at huge numbers here. The difference is only 82 sales. 375 homes were sold last year (2013) and 293 sold this year (2014) on the whole entire island. Now lets look at why these figures are not a concern at all.
First I don't want to downplay what happened when the banks shut down. It affected many people in ways that are absolute nightmares, people lost their entire savings and becoming imprisoned by the system that swallowed a good portion of their life savings. I hope for a good outcome for them eventually. Considering the devastation and chaos caused by the banking system people of course doubt and fear trusting banks in Cyprus again. It has greatly effected the housing market recovery but, the housing market needed this maybe just as badly as the banks did. Both sectors were running wild and needed to be harnessed.
The issuance of property title deeds is yet to be resolved. The Cyprus system was so outdated that after years of booming development and every family getting involved in the building industry, a tremendous backlog without the means to process anything in a timely fashion occurred. Add to this banks allowing properties already sold to be mortgaged with second loans to developers that have gone bust. We see that even the smartest minds of the EU are baffled on how to resolve this mess.
Considering all of this a drop of 82 home sale year over year is not so bad. I actually think it's great news and I am very encouraged. January has never been a strong month for any Cyprus business, not for tourism nor property sales. The first January after the banking mess is surely not expected to be a vibrant one.
UK citizens have been the major players in the Cyprus market and as far as I know, the housing market in the UK has not done well lately and at this point in time they remain the nation that Cyprus appeals to the most. As the housing market improves and homeowners are able to sell their properties so will their return to Cyprus in much stronger numbers.
There are interested buyers that are actively looking, we had buyers even throughout the banking shutdown. Interest in Cyprus has never stopped. There are interested sellers and there are sellers who have also had to take their properties off the market as they came to realize that maybe they can wait. As prices fell for the last several years their homes are no where close to where they were when they first purchased and it comes down to does it make sense to sell or keep the home.
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| Paphos hotel area near water park |
In my opinion there are many reasons to be optimistic about the Cyprus housing market. The main thing being is that the problems (Title deeds, banking sector, developers, and the North/South issue) that have brought us to this point have been identified and are in the public's eye. Everyone who is concerned is now working to resolve the issues in Cyprus. When Cyprus became a full member of the EU growing pains came with it and we will continue to grow and deal with more growing pains. Another huge positive is finding all the natural gas findings they have found that will put Cyprus at the front of providers of the resource for Europe.
Confidence is low, but will surely grow as Cyprus and the new administration continues to do what is necessary to navigate Cyprus into a bright future. I expect that Cyprus will prosper again and as we move forward we must look at statistics considering all the factors involved. When we look at who is buying, we also must see who is selling and who is not. After all we know how many houses sold this January compared to last, but we don't know how many properties are for sale now compared to last year.
If you are looking for a great investment in Cyprus, check out all out property in Cyprus for sale here.
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