Filenews 12 January 2025 - by Angelos Angelodimou
The interest of foreigners in buying real estate in Cyprus continues to remain undiminished. Both in 2023 and 2024, foreigners made about 50% of real estate purchases, which demonstrates on the one hand their confidence in the Cypriot market, but at the same time shows that without foreigners the real estate market in our country would be very different. This is true, according to market participants, not only for real estate, but also for retail, forex companies, technology companies and many other industries and ultimately consumption and the economy.
2024, therefore, closed at about the same levels as 2023, in terms of sales (1% increase), which shows that the market showed resilience to the difficulties presented. Both in relation to the domestic economic situation, i.e. high prices and high interest rates, and in relation to the international scene, with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as with the ups and downs of oil and gas prices.
As far as forecasts for 2025 are concerned, market professionals' estimates indicate that it is expected to move at the same levels, both from Cypriot and foreign buyers.
Dynamic rise of Larnaka
Israelis, Lebanese, Russians and Ukrainians continued their purchases of Cypriot properties, contributing to sales growth in 2024 compared to 2023. Indeed, the strong interest of foreigners in buying real estate in our country led for the first time Larnaca to the third place in sales (3,350 sales and an increase of 5%), as significant interest is shown by foreigners in the city, surpassing Paphos, which was in this position for several years.
Limassol may have remained first in the number of property sales, but Larnaca recorded a significant increase in sales, due to interest from foreigners and was the surprise of 2024 in terms of property sales. The – for years – low prices in real estate, combined with a number of other factors, such as the presence of the airport, the investment of several entrepreneurs in new hotels, the imminent development on the coastal front of the Larnaka-Dhekelia area, an area of 2.5 km and the creation of a mall are some of the factors that show that Larnaca is growing and, even more, that it has the potential to grow even further in the future.
Dynamic among the locals
Turning now to the other side of sales, namely domestic buyers, 2024 showed that a sufficient portion of Cypriot buyers still have the potential to support the market.
This was shown by the large increase in sales recorded in the capital, since, as is well known, the vast majority of transactions in Nicosia concern domestic buyers.
Recording the largest increase of all districts for the whole of 2024 (14%), Nicosia with 3,500 sales showed that it continues to be a large market in the real estate industry and of course it is the geographical area in which mainly Cypriot citizens buy.
Of course, Limassol, a city that gathers buyers from both abroad and Cyprus, remained first in sales in 2024, although it recorded a slight decrease compared to the previous year. Specifically, Limassol, with approximately 5,000 sales in 2024, was again in the first place of sales, but with a slight drop of 1%, possibly as a result of the rise of Larnaka.
Paphos fell
The big decrease in sales was recorded in Paphos, resulting in the city losing the third place, which it held for years, as it was behind Limassol and Nicosia. Now, the third place is held by Larnaka, which competes equally with Paphos.
Specifically, Paphos, with approximately 3,100 sales, recorded a drop of 8% compared to 2023. However, it should be noted that this city has on the market plots that are more expensive than Larnaca and therefore the total turnover from sales may be higher than that of Larnaca.
Finally, Famagusta, with a very small sales turnover of 775 transactions, recorded a decline of 5%, however, due to the small number of transactions it does not play a large role in the overall rate.
Kourousidis optimistic about 2025 performance
Speaking to "F", the president of the Association of Real Estate Appraisers, Polys Kourousidis, noted that in 2024 the real estate market showed significant resilience, attracting the interest of domestic and foreign buyers. And this despite the unstable international scene, with wars underway and the economy in several regions of the world recording regressions.
Regarding his estimates for 2025, Mr. Kourousides appeared optimistic, noting that the real estate market will move even better from both foreign buyers and Cypriots, provided of course that there will be no other major turmoil that will affect not only the sector, but the entire economy.
Justifying his optimism, Mr. Kourousidis noted that the wars may continue, but the markets have absorbed the effects and these are no longer considered as causes that can further disrupt the scene, unless of course there is such an escalation that then we will have to talk about different data.
At the same time, in 2025 we should expect interest rates to fall, which will make real estate purchases even easier. Asked what kind of properties Cypriots and foreigners buy, Kourousides noted that both these categories seem to focus mainly on apartments, with the purchasing power of Cypriots reaching up to 250-300 thousand and foreigners up to 500 thousand. He added that in 2024, sales between Cypriots and foreigners were around 50%, showing that both these categories equally support the real estate market.
