Buy Abroad News

28 Jul 10

Where Is The Cyprus Property Market Going

As markets globally continue to bump along the bottom of "the curve", John Reilly takes a look at the likely pattern that is going to emerge in terms of Cyprus property prices as the year progresses.

I spend a good deal of my time talking to clients and also property developers and vendors across Cyprus and almost without exception they have all been telling me that the market has slowed significantly from the begining of the year until now. Even with discounted prices we are still seeing a large amount of caution from buyers how are looking for bargains.

I recently spoke to David Hodgson from Basildon in Essex who has been trying to sell his two bedroom apartment in Kato Paphos for the last nine months. He told me "when we started to market the property we were advised by more than one agent to ensure that the price is as low as you were prepared to accept as this is the only way in this market to attract serious buyers. We took this advice and put the property on the market at what we thought was a very competitive price. We have had numerous viewings and had three offers over that period. However all the offers have been at least 20% below the asking price and it seems people are only interested in buying of they can steal the property. We have therefore decided to hang on for another year and rent the apartment on a long term let".

Given this sort of experience from vendors it seems reasonable to assume that 2010 is going to remain tough for sellers and only vendors that are prepared to sell cheaply will find a buyer.