According to the analysts and based on the recent figures provided, the property market in Cyprus has seen a profound and steady growth since February in all the districts.
The Department of Lands and Surveys have recently issued a report on the property sales contracts that have been filed at Land Registry Offices across Cyprus. In the report one can observe an increase in 46 percent as of February 2018 compared to February 2017. There are steady increases in the contracts deposited after February: 64 percent in January, 36 percent in December, 39 percent in November and 18 percent in October. To put it into perspective, we might compare 456 contracts deposited at Land Registry offices in February 2017 to 666 contracts (of both residential and commercial properties, as well as plots of land) deposited in February 2018.
Surprisingly, this is the record number of contracts deposited since 2010 (704 contracts). Sales in all the districts, except for Larnaca have increased. In Larnaca, however, we can see a drop of sales that constitutes 1 percent. Sales in Famagusta have increased by 174 percent, in Paphos sales have increased by 87 percent. Limassol saw an increase of 45 percent and Nicosia has experienced an increase of 32 percent.
Total Property Sale Contracts – 2017/2018 Comparison
| District | Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| Nicosia | 2017 | 72 | 73 | 79 | 80 | 118 | 162 | 124 | 76 | 87 | 117 | 170 | 306 |
| 2018 | 146 | 96 | |||||||||||
| Famagusta | 2017 | 21 | 19 | 40 | 29 | 38 | 46 | 59 | 47 | 57 | 51 | 52 | 169 |
| 2018 | 48 | 52 | |||||||||||
| Larnaca | 2017 | 102 | 100 | 113 | 69 | 119 | 96 | 103 | 88 | 107 | 111 | 151 | 181 |
| 2018 | 112 | 99 | |||||||||||
| Limassol | 2017 | 132 | 177 | 232 | 192 | 298 | 304 | 289 | 201 | 203 | 306 | 321 | 532 |
| 2018 | 225 | 256 | |||||||||||
| Paphos | 2017 | 96 | 87 | 162 | 136 | 183 | 235 | 184 | 160 | 148 | 183 | 212 | 349 |
| 2018 | 164 | 163 | |||||||||||
| Total | 2017 | 423 | 456 | 626 | 506 | 756 | 843 | 739 | 572 | 602 | 768 | 906 | 1537 |
| 2018 | 695 | 666 |
The number of contracts deposited at Land Registry cumulatively in January and February of 2018 constitutes 1,361. That showcases an increase in 55 percent in comparison to the same months last year.
Famagusta heads the list of provinces with the highest increases (150 percent), Paphos is on the second place with the increase of 79 percent. Nicosia and Limassol have also experienced profound increases – 67 percent and 56 percent respectively. Larnaca, however, has experienced a smaller compared to others increase – 4 percent.
Information on Purchasers
Out of 666 contracts: 306 contracts (46 percent) were deposited by Cypriot clients, 360 contracts (54 percent) were deposited by foreign buyers. The increase in contracts, deposited by foreigners, is hard to comprehend and explain.
One of the plausible explanations is a change in the way the data was coded. The Department of Land & Surveys’ website has announced that some alternations have been made to the methods of coding, no further details have been disclosed so far. Though, the website advices to withhold from comparing this year’s statistics with the data from the previous years due to the inconsistency in the coding method. We hope that the website will provide further information and clarity before publishing the statistics for March. Nevertheless, the Department separated the EU citizens from the non-EU citizens on the foreign sales table:
Total Property Sale Contracts – 2017/2018 Comparison
| District | Source | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| Nicosia | EU | 10 | 8 | ||||||||||
| Non-EU | 10 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Famagusta | EU | 15 | 24 | ||||||||||
| Non-EU | 36 | 10 | |||||||||||
| Larnaca | EU | 9 | 9 | ||||||||||
| Non-EU | 43 | 46 | |||||||||||
| Limassol | EU | 15 | 17 | ||||||||||
| Non-EU | 103 | 87 | |||||||||||
| Paphos | EU | 41 | 58 | ||||||||||
| Non-EU | 105 | 97 | |||||||||||
| Totals | EU | 90 | 116 | ||||||||||
| Non-EU | 297 | 244 | |||||||||||
| TOTAL | 387 | 360 |
Cyprus Property Sale Contracts 2000-2018
| Year | Overseas Sales | Domestic Sales | Percentage Overseas Sales | Total Sales |
| 2000 | 450 | 12,214 | 3.6% | 12,664 |
| 2001 | 1,207 | 12,849 | 8.6% | 14,056 |
| 2002 | 2,548 | 14,111 | 15.3% | 16,659 |
| 2003 | 3,981 | 15,294 | 20.7% | 19,275 |
| 2004 | 5,384 | 11,947 | 31.1% | 17,331 |
| 2005 | 6,485 | 10,106 | 39.1% | 16,591 |
| 2006 | 8,355 | 8,598 | 49.3% | 16,593 |
| 2007 | 11,281 | 9,964 | 53.1% | 21,245 |
| 2008 | 6,636 | 8,031 | 45.2% | 14,667 |
| 2009 | 1,761 | 6,409 | 21.6% | 8,170 |
| 2010 | 2,030 | 6,568 | 23.6% | 8,598 |
| 2011 | 1,652 | 5,366 | 23.5% | 7,018 |
| 2012 | 1,476 | 4,793 | 23.5% | 6,269 |
| 2013 | 1,017 | 2,750 | 27.0% | 3,767 |
| 2014 | 1,193 | 3,334 | 26.4% | 4,527 |
| 2015 | 1,349 | 3,603 | 27.2% | 4,952 |
| 2016 | 1,813 | 5,250 | 25.7% | 7,063 |
| 2017 | 2,406 | 6,328 | 27.5% | 8,734 |
| 2018 (Feb) | 747 | 614 | 54.9% | 1,361 |
| Totals | 61, 771 | 148, 129 | 29.4% | 209,900 |
