International consulting company PwC has published a report on sales of luxury housing in Cyprus for 2023.
As it turned out, the demand for premium class properties in the island state has significantly decreased.
In particular, interest in real estate worth more than 1.5 million euros in 2023 decreased by 26% compared to 2022. At the same time, for the whole year concluded 164 deals with expensive properties totaling 440 million euros. The luxury housing sector accounted for just 8% of total transactions for the whole of 2023. It is worth noting that this is the lowest contribution since 2013.
Looking in more detail by city in Cyprus, Limassol was the leader in terms of luxury housing transactions in 2023, accounting for 74%. It is followed by Paphos with 15%. These two cities accounted for 89% of total luxury residential sales, up from 93% in 2022. In turn, only 5% of the luxury housing market last year was occupied by Nicosia, 4% by Larnaca and 2% by the free neighborhoods of Famagusta.
Sales of premium properties purchased by foreign buyers recorded an annual growth of 16% in 2023, reaching 6.9 thousand units versus 5.928 thousand in 2023.
The increased activity was due to the mass relocation of foreign companies to Cyprus. The highest concentration of sales documents involving foreign buyers was observed in Limassol and Paphos (34% each). Moreover, these two coastal cities together accounted for more than 65% of transactions with foreigners. Some 72% of properties purchased by foreign buyers in 2023 were owned by non-EU investors, up from 57% in 2022. Limassol was the city with the highest percentage of non-EU buyers (77%), followed by Larnaca (74%) and Paphos (70%).