31.01.2022
The decision that a new Total Valuation of approximately 2,000,000 properties throughout Cyprus at prices as of January 1, 2021 “may be published before the end of May 2022” concluded a Cyprus-wide meeting of relevant officials of the Department of Lands and Surveys.
In particular, in statements to KYPE, the new Director of the Department, Elikkos Ilias, said that a meeting of officials of the Department of Lands and Land Surveys of Cyprus was held, during which, among other things, the issue of a new General assessment of real estate was considered. Discussed real estate, cooperation with private appraisers.
“Achieved and outstanding issues on this issue were considered, and it was decided that a new overall assessment could be published before the end of May 2022,” he said.
In addition, the director of the department said that a letter was sent to the competent authorities, municipalities and communities that tax the value of real estate based on the Land Registry valuation, in which “we informed that we hope that by the end of May 2022 the Cadastre will be able to publish the General valuation with values as of January 1, 2021.”
He stated that the data is currently being analyzed and “at the moment we cannot say an increase in value compared to the previous price estimate with a reference date of January 1, 2018.”For now, Mr. Elias told KYPE that the Land Registry prefers a strong upward trend in terms of valuations that shows stability in the economy, as he explained, “rather than facing wild property price fluctuations that show that something bad is happening to the economy.” He noted that this is not what any state would like.
“Property values do not appear to be declining as a result of the pandemic for three main reasons,” which, according to Mr. Elias, are “very low interest rates that encourage citizens to invest in real estate; the certainty that exists in terms of the real estate market and the fact that Cyprus is one of the few countries in the world where there is no real estate tax, such as the uniform property tax (ENFIA) in Greece, “something that encourages a citizen to invest real estate funds.
He stated that in Cyprus the property tax is zero and added that there are only tax fees that a citizen pays in municipalities and sewerage councils.
Regarding the cooperation of the Land Registry with private sector appraisers in specific areas, the Director of the Department said that there was good cooperation with private appraisers who completed their work and “gave us what they consider the average value of real estate in the areas that we assigned to them.”
“We will process these values to conclude what we will accept in the new overall assessment for specific areas” located in municipalities, he concluded. It is noted that the first general assessment in Cyprus was in 1920, the second in 1980, the third in 2013 and the last in 2018.
