10.10.2021
Nicosia leads in real estate sales, with the number of real estate transactions in the capital in the first nine months of 2021 exceeding the number recorded before the coronavirus pandemic.
Sales in the capital are up significantly, up 37% in the first nine months compared to 2020 and up 38% compared to the same period before COVID-2019.
The total number of property sales in Cyprus decreased by 9% from January to September 2021 compared to 2019. Despite this, Nicosia was the only area where there was a significant increase in sales.
The Land Registry provided data showing that the number of sale documents from January to September was 7,003.
According to the Land Registry, the number of submitted sales documents in the first 9 months was 7,003, compared to 5,444 in the same period last year and down from 7,736 in the nine months of 2019.
From January to September 2020, the total number of real estate transactions increased by 29% compared to 2019.
In part, this increase is due to the low base of last year, which is to blame for the quarantine. Due to the pandemic, economic activity, as well as the work of the land registry, have been reduced.
In the rest of the districts, sales increased, but compared to 2019, sales decreased in all districts except Nicosia.
The largest decline in sales occurred in Paphos – 40%. In Limassol, the decline was 18%. The latest report from the Central Bank shows that the real estate market is undergoing adjustments at the beginning of the pandemic.This is due to a possible change in the priorities of buyers and investors in favor of smaller apartments and houses of lower cost compared to previous years.
According to the Central Bank, in most areas there is an increased interest in residential real estate. Basically, they buy apartments and houses of a smaller size and value than in the past.
On an annualized basis, house prices are seeing stabilization with a 0.9% increase in the first quarter of 2021 from 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
In 2020, the number of sales documents fell to the lowest level since 2016 at 7,968 units compared to 10,366 in 2019, representing a year-on-year decrease of 23.1%.
