The residential sales market is recovering in Cyprus with official data showing that transactions increased by 29% in May year on year.
It means that the Mediterranean island’s property market is seeing sustain growth in the sales of homes with April, March and February seeing sales rise year on year by 29%, 23% and 46%.
But it is not an universal picture of growth. For example, sales in both Larnaca and Limassol fell by 5% in May. Even the growth is uneven, with transactions soaring by 108% in Famagusta.
Sales also increased by 30% in Nicosia and by 10% in Paphos. However, even although sales fell in Limassol, the city’s housing market still recorded the highest number of sales during May, suggesting that the market is still growing.
In terms of sale contracts, in the first five months of 2018 they increased across Cyprus by 31%. Famagusta has the highest growth at 84%, followed by a rise of 51% in Nicosia, an increase of 29% in Paphos, a rise of 28% in Limassol and a rise of 4% in Larnaca.
The market, which saw a considerable downturn during the global economic crisis, is also seeing more new homes being built. Official figures shows that the number of building permits for the construction of new homes increased by 13.3% in the 12 months to March 2018.
However, the total number of building permits fell by 2% during March 2018. The 363 residential building permits approved in March provided for the construction of 467 new homes.
Most new homes are being built in Limassol with 156 permits, followed by 149 in Nicosia, 99 in Larnaca, 29 in Paphos, and 34 in Famagusta.
On a quarterly basis some 1,515 building permits were issued in the first three months of 2018, up from 1,451 issued in the first quarter of 2017. This suggests that future building activity is on an upward trajectory, boding well for the recovery of the real estate market.
