From January to June, Bank of Cyprus completed property transactions totalling more than €58 million, compared with €63 million a year earlier. Of this amount, €6 million related to mortgaged properties.
At the same time, the Cypriot lender's net profit from the sale of residential and commercial properties amounted to approximately €3 million in the first half of the year, compared to €4 million in the same period last year.
It is worth noting that the bank sold different categories of properties, but the majority of transactions (two thirds) were land. In addition, as at 30 June 2024, Bank of Cyprus managed to conclude preliminary transactions for the sale and purchase of real estate worth €49 million, of which €18 million related to signed sale and purchase agreements. A year earlier these figures were € 66 million and € 38 million respectively.
During the first half of the year, Bank of Cyprus's portfolio was enriched by €14 million of real estate, compared to €8 million in 2023, through debt-for-real-estate swap agreements.
As at 30 June 2024, the Bank had €790 million of properties under management, compared to €836 million in 2023. Most of the properties now under management are land, golf courses and golf-related properties, offices and other commercial properties.
Finally, since the beginning of 2019, sales of foreclosed properties held in the Bank of Cyprus' portfolio totalled around €1 billion, exceeding sales of properties acquired during the same period by €0.5 billion.