Beach Properties In Cyprus – What Is Happening?
A few months (8 months) ago we wrote in this paper an encounter that we have had with a Russian lady buyer of ours, who has bought a beach property at Larnaca against our advice (due to the high price) who has turned on us and said that “you do not know the value for us Russians who live 10 months of the year in the cold, what this villa means …..”. We thought, at the time, “she must be very wealthy to say this, but what we care to tell her otherwise”. After 8 months from this encounter we have other experiences for you to tell, which at the end of the day, it seems that she may be quite right.
– A beach plot in Limassol was sold 2 months ago for £700.000 p.d. (20% building density) the highest ever price for beach property in Cyprus (£25.000.000) when the going rate was £500.000 p.d. The buyer got in touch with us and we told him “he must be crazy” to buy this at this price. After 2 months he called us back to say, “I am not as crazy as you think, because I have now had an offer for £1.000.000 p.d.””!!
– Land at the Dhekelia road with the going rate of £300.000 p.d. (maximum) 3 months ago, was sold last month for £450.000 p.d.!! (£3.600.000).
– Land at Paphos without access and without water supply (purely speculative land) but situated within a development zone full of ancient monuments, on the beach was sold for £250.000 p.d. – An incredible price.
– Land at Mazotos not on the beach but close to the prospective golf course was sold for £250.000 p.d. (last year £100.000 p.d. maximum).
– Land at Paralimni area on the beach is now selling (with numerous buyers) for £500.000 p.d. (last year £350.000 p.d.).
– Land at Alaminos 220 d was sold for £440.000 p.d. (£97.000.000) with a going rate last year £250.000 p.d.
– Etc etc
Why you think that prices have shot up at such an alarming and of course at such a high rate? We think mainly because the “Russians are buying” at an increasing volume in terms of beach land/property.
As Russians become wealthier due to oil and gas price increases, so a new generation of Russian buyers appear, much more affluent. The paranoia of the Russians buying “us out” is the talk of the town nowadays.
Beach housing units in terms of apartments have reached an average £3.000-£6.000 per sq.m. and for houses on the beach £7.000-£10.000/sq.m. Amazing as it seems, a developer called us from the Paralimni area to say that he has 5 villas to sell at £600.000/unit (not a popular Russian market). We sold all 5 in 10 days, 4 of which to locals and one to a British chap. This same project had 15 beach apartments with an average price of £3.500/sq.m., which was sold within 15 days to one buyer (??) for £4.500.000!! What is quite interesting is the going rate for luxurious houses in Limassol. The rate is now at £7.0 mil. for a house of around 800 sq.mts. and in plots of land of around 2.000-3.000 sq.mts. not on the beach. So that you do not think that it is an isolated situation, we had a client with an unlimited budget (so declared) and we felt embarrassed to show him houses north of the beach (around 1 km) which was worth no more than £2.0 mil. We did and he bought one immediately at the asking price for £3.5 mil.!! The word has spread around and anybody who has a house to sell, be it with a large plot of land and of the said unit size, wants a price of £7.0 mil.!!
This you might think it is a beach situation and for individual cases and why should we bother. But on the other hand, such sales have a side effect on the non beach land. So in Limassol again we have now off the seaside road prices at £400.000 p.d. and at the Protaras area £280.000 p.d. Land at the Tersefanou near the prospective golf course, which was for sale at £150.000 p.d. last year, is now selling at £250.000 p.d. (not on the golf course but near it).
We, since we claim to be experts in real estate, have lost count of what is happening and we no longer attempt to predict. What we are worried about however is the new strict finance measures introduced by the Central Bank requiring a 40% participation of the buyers in terms of a % on the total sales price or the valuation prepared by an independent valuer (whatever is the less). We expect that this will affect the rate of demand and prices, but on the other hand the people who buy at this top end and at those exorbitant prices, we doubt that they will be affected. Recently an apartment building at Limassol, not on the beach, but near it, be it of top quality in design (not yet built) sells for £150.000 for one bedroom flat and 30% have already been sold! We may have told you about a client of ours who owns a 135 sq.mts. beach house at Protaras who bought it for £170.000 4 years ago and had a local knocking at his door offering him £700.000 (not even a Russian). He asked for our advice and we told him, do it, if you can find something on the beach similar to yours (he could not). Imagine if this buyer he was a Russian. We feel that at times we live in the U.K. at Maple Arch or at Kolonaki in Athens. Have you seen the film “The Russians are Coming” but we will add, with lots of money!!
