PROPERTY sales in Cyprus showed signs of making a recovery in June following the Government’s easing of the COVID-19 lockdown measures and its decision to subsidise housing loans according to official figures from the Department of Lands and Surveys.
During June a total of 646 property sales contracts were deposited at Land Registry offices across the island compared to the 714 deposited in June last year. Although this represents a fall of 10%, it’s a significant improvement on the 80% fall in April and the 71% fall in May.
This recovery has been helped by the Government easing the COVID-19 lockdown measures and its decision to introduce an interest rate subsidy for new housing loans. The subsidy will benefit many to take advantage of cheap borrowing costs for four years. (Also, many properties are being offered for sale at a discount of up to 20%.)
During June, Famagusta reported a rise in property sales of 30%, followed by a rise of 23% in Nicosia and a rise of 7% in Larnaca compared to June last year.
However, these rises were outweighed by falls in the districts most popular with overseas buyers – Paphos, where sales fell by 51% and Limassol, where sales fell by 8%.
Total property sales – year to date
In the first half of 2020 property sales have fallen by 41% compared to 2019, with sales down in all districts.
Sales in Limassol have fallen by 53%, followed by Paphos, where sales are down 50%. Meanwhile, sales in Famagusta, Larnaca and Famagusta have fallen 38%, 27% and 18% respectively.
Source: www.news.cyprus-property-buyers.com
