In the first 11 months of 2020, Cyprus had a sharp decline in the number of permits issued for real estate construction.
According to the Cyprus Statistical Office, between January and November 2020, 6,375 construction licenses were issued in the country (6,571 in the first 11 months of 2020).
The total cost of these permits decreased by 23.0% and the total area by 8.6%. The number of housing units increased by 0.2%. By the way, in 2019, these numbers were much higher. Thus, the area of licensed projects in the same period of 2019 increased by 50%.
If you look at the cities, then (during the first 11 months of 2020):
- Limassol: the number of licenses issued decreased by 31.5%.
- Larnaca: the number of licenses issued decreased by 10.6%.
- Paphos: the number of licenses issued decreased by 5.5%.
- Nicosia: the number of licenses issued increased by 17.2%.
- Famagusta: the number of licenses issued increased by 53.9%.
In November, the number of building permits issued by municipal and district administrations reached 686. The total cost of these licenses was 295.6 million euros, and the total area was 228.4 thousand m2. With these permits, they plan to build 831 real estate objects in the country.
It is worth noting that building permits are a leading indicator of future activity in the construction sector. Based on this, it is possible to draw completely disappointing conclusions for the Cyprus residential property market.
The coronavirus pandemic and the cancellation of the Golden Passport program have had a huge impact on developers, who, apparently, do not intend to construct buildings in the near future. In any case, until they have confidence that everything built will be provided with due demand.