A review of the PwC real estate market in Cyprus for thefirst half of 2019 shows that a quarter of all real estate transactions tookplace in April, shortly before more stringent criteria were introduced forthose who apply for citizenship. The value of real estate transactions (salescontracts) for the reporting period increased by 25% and reached 2.5 billioneuros compared to the same period last year. The number of real estatecompleted during this period also rose to 7,900.
PwC reports that significant growth "appears to havebeen caused by a growing flow of foreign capital into residential real estateand that there should be a clear slowdown in growth in the third quarter of2019."
Limassol had the lion's share of transactions; 44% of thevalue of transactions and 33% of the number of properties sold.
Paphos took second place with 25% of the value oftransactions and 22% of the property sold.
Nicosia had 15% of the value of transactions and 21% of realestate sold.
Larnaca has 10% of the value of transactions and 18%of the sold real estate.
Famagusta - 6% of the value of transactions and 6% of realestate sold.
April was the strongest month; transaction value reachedapproximately 600 million euros; a quarter of the total.
Transactions by type of property:
Apartments - 3600 units sold € 1.1 billion.
Houses - 1,900 units sold € 0.9 billion.
Land - 2,000 units sold € 0.4 billion
Commercial real estate - 300 units sold worth € 0.1 billion.
Others - 100 units sold worth 0.05 billion euros.
In the first half of 2019, the number of objects acquired byforeign buyers reached 2482. About 70% of these buyers were citizens ofcountries outside the EU. In value terms, buyers from non-EU countriesaccounted for approximately 45% of all transactions in the first half of 2019.