International consulting company PwC has published its annual report on the real estate market in Cyprus.
According to the new study, despite all the difficulties, the island nation's housing sector has shown stability and resilience.
In particular, in 2023, the total volume of real estate transactions in Cyprus reached 5.5 billion euros, which corresponds to the level of 2022. Notably, Larnaca and Paphos recorded a 22% and 4% increase in transaction values, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year. This helped to offset the decline in purchasing activity in Limassol.
According to PwC, 14.6 thousand residential real estate transactions were concluded in Cyprus in 2023. Their total value reached approximately €3.9 billion, 1% less than in 2022. At the same time, 9.6 thousand of the concluded sales contracts concerned apartments, while 5 thousand concerned houses. In turn, the residential real estate sector accounted for 69% (against 70% in 2022) of the total volume of transactions. The performance of the sector was supported by the growing activity in the land segment: the volume of land transactions showed an annual growth of 11% (1.3 billion euros).
Interestingly, foreign buyers purchased a total of 6.9 thousand properties in Cyprus in 2023 compared to 5.9 thousand in 2022.
The growth amounted to 16%. PwC noted that this trend is due to the mass relocation of companies to the island and the influx of citizens from third countries. By the way, the number of properties bought by foreigners in 2023 exceeded every corresponding month of 2022, except for November and December, when there was a decrease of 16% and 18%, respectively. This may be largely due to the outbreak of Israeli aggression.
At the same time, the luxury residential real estate segment in Cyprus experienced a marked decline in 2023, with an analysis of transaction data for individual residential properties valued at more than or equal to €1.5 million indicating a 26% drop in demand compared to 2022. In particular, only 164 transactions totaling €440 million were concluded in this segment during 2023. The contribution of this segment to the total volume of transactions in Cyprus amounted to only 8%.