Cypriot golden visa scheme generates €2bn
Paphos, Cyprus Photo: Sergey Yeliseev
Cyprus' golden visa has generated over €2 billion in property sales over the past two years, according to officials.
Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos told the press last week that the plan, which offers non-EU buyers residency in exchange for an investment of at least €300,000, had "amongst others" brough the Republic more than €2 billion these past two years.
The other citizenship programs he referred to include foreigners depositing €2m in the state treasury to purchase shares or bonds in a state-run investment company and donating €0.5 million towards the Research and Technology fund. Applicants can also invest a minimum of €5 million in projects that include the purchase of homes, offices, or hotels, as long as the real estate is put to use.
"Hasikos refused to submit details on the number of people who received citizenship saying it violated personal data, referring only to the total cash the scheme generated," reports the Cyprus Mail.
Nonetheless, the news will bring some optimism to the island's struggling economy and real estate market. Indeed, the golden visa scheme has enjoyed huge success in Portugal, bringing in more than €1.2 billion in real estate investment. Now, sales and prices are both rising steadily, as confidence among agents climbs.
The Cyprus announcement arrives as new figures from the Land Registry show that the number of properties sold during April 2015 increased 23 per cent year-on-year.
Sales rose in all districts, with the exception of Famagusta. While some experts highlight the impact of the foreclosure law upon activity - "When they receive letters from banks and lawyers people panic and rush to sell their property," says Solomon Kourouklides, Vice Chairman of the Cyprus Real Estate Agents Association - the figures portray a positive picture of the island's market at the start of 2015.
381 contracts for the sale of both commercial and residential properties (including land) were registered at the Land Registry in April 2015, up from 311 in the same month in 2014. Three quarters were made up of domestic buyers, while the remaining quarter were accounted for by overseas buyers.
Sales fell 41 per cent in Famagusta, but increased in all the other districts. Indeed, overall sales during the first four months of 2015 are up 18 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, indicating a broader picture of recovery.
Domestic sales jumped 24 per cent, led by Paphos, while overseas sales reversed a 60 per cent decline in March with an 18 per cent climb. (International sales fell in Famagusta and Paphos but increased in Larnaca, Limassol and Nicosia.)
Despite the apparent success of the golden visa scheme, though, overseas demand is still far from fully rebounded: between January and April 2015, international purchases fell 1 per cent year-on-year, suggesting that the market's slow, uneven recovery still has some way to go.