Overseas sales of Cypriot property rose more than 50 per cent in February 2017, despite overall transactions dropping.
The island’s housing market has been steadily improving in the last year, after being heavily hit by the financial crisis, with international sales helping to fuel the country’s real estate recovery.
In February, though, the market faltered slightly, with overall deals dropping in all five districts across the island. Sales fell 9 per cent, according to official figures from the Department of Lands and Surveys, the first monthly decline since August 2015. Overseas buyers made up 22 per cent of transactions, while domestic buyers made up 78 per cent.
Famagusta led the fall in sales (down 46 per cent), followed by Paphos (13 per cent), Nicosia (8 per cent), Larnaca (7 per cent) and Limassol (1 per cent).
While sales to local house-hunters slipped 20 per cent, though, sales to international buyers surged 53 per cent year-on-year, with 113 contracts registered in February 2017, compared to 74 in the same month in 2016.
International sales in Nicosia and Famagusta dropped 56 per cent and 50 per cent respectively, but the declines were outweighed by a 124 per cent increase in Limassel, a 67 per cent rise in Larnaca and a 43 per cent increase in Paphos.
*Source: www.themovechannel.com