Domestic buyers pounce on paphos

Paphos property sales are on the up - but not to whom you might think.

In October 2015, property sales across Cyprus showed a healthy 23 per cent increase year-on-year. Sales rose in all districts, except Larnaca (where sales fell by 1 percent), as Nicosia led the way with a 64 per cent increase. Paphos sales went up 30 per cent and Limassol sales climbed 28 per cent.

Statistics show that 96 per cent of total property sales in Nicosia were registered to Cypriot nationals while only 4 per cent were bought by overseas buyers.

Unusually, though, Paphos is following a similar trend, despite being the island's traditional tourist hotpot – indeed, the Paphos region has the largest number of private holiday homes registered to overseas owners in the whole of Cyprus.

In October, a total of 82 properties in Paphos were sold to Cypriots, almost double the 40 domestic sales recorded in October 2014.

Paphos sales to overseas clients dropped to a mere 35 units, versus 50 units sold in the same month in 2014, a drop of 30 per cent.

Fitzgeralds argues that the surprise trend is a sign that the market's prices have finally stabilised.

"From the brink of the financial and banking abyss, Cyprus is steadily emerging a stronger economy and a stronger nation. The financial restrictions are but a memory, our banks have been upgraded and 'almost 'given a clean bill of health, the title deeds issue is being dealt with and the buyers have more and more tools to fight the good fight to get the deeds," says the estate agency.

"Paphos has also been the leading protagonist of the property bubble which precipitated the financial crisis, from which it is slowly emerging. The sudden interest by the Cypriot buyer signals that the prices have reached bottom and are stabilising. Cypriots know this and are taking advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity."

The agency says that 20 per cent of its property sales currently go to foreigners, with buyers from as far away as Japan, New Zealand, Brazil and the Americas.