Cypriot sells property on ebay
The property in question is a commercial shop unit in the centre of Paphos, situated by the Tomb of the Kings Avenue, explains its listing. Built in 2009, it is billed as a potential restaurant and shop complex, complete with a basement “ready licensed for entertainment use or night club”.
After failing to find a buyer through local agents, Mr. Georgiou asked his grandson, Nick, to help him list it on eBay.
“We wanted to reach a bigger audience online,” the Manchester-based 31 year old told the Cyprus Mail. His granddad, aged 84, lives in the coastal city of Limassol and has been waiting to sell for a while.
His timing, though was all wrong. The property market looked rosy in 2009, only for the financial crash to send values into a downward spiral - one that, according to the RICS, has continued ever since.
The low prices are hoped by locals to attract foreign buyers back to the island, with a lot of expectation pinned upon Chinese buyers, who are being wooed with residency offers for non-EU investors.
In the first half of 2013, though, sales fell 52 per cent year-on-year, according to the Department of Lands and Surveys. Some agents attributed to the decline to cautious buyers, particularly the Chinese, being deterred by sellers over-pricing their real estate.
For the eBaying entrepreneur, the price tag is negotiable. At the moment, the Buy It Now number stands at approximately €1.6 million, but the listing notes that “all reasonable offers will be considered”.
“There’s no harm in doing it (and) people haven’t tried it much,” Nick added. Indeed, the move is the latest in a string of gestures from the island designed to attract attention.
Will it pay off? This summer seems to be more in Georgiou’s favour: in July, overseas sales jumped by 49 per cent compared to 2012. International transactions in Larnaca and Famagusta both decreased, but their falls were offset by positive signs from other districts: Nicosia and Limassol both enjoyed rises of 150 per cent and 88 per cent, while Pathos - the traditional favourite of overseas buyers and holidaymakers- saw sales leap 110 per cent year-on-year.
Overall, sales to domestic and international investors are still falling, and overseas deals in the first seven months of the year are down 31 per cent on the same period in 2012, but the latest climb is a positive indicator that demand has not completely dried up.
Indeed, in March 2013, international sales in Paphos jumped 52.5 per cent month-on-month, while estate agents in May told TheMoveChannel.com it was “business as usual”, highlighting rising interest from both the Middle East and America.
With prices still falling, bargain hunters on the move and an untapped audience on eBay, maybe Mr. Georgiou’s timing is finally right. After all, his listing does offer free postage.