The Property market is picking up in Cyprus for 2020 largely fueled by Cyprus Investment Scheme (CIP), according to the latest land registry property data seen by CIP journal.
The number of sale contracts registered for foreign Non-EU buyers, risen in Jan 2020, after dropping to lowest levels in Aug 2019. The number of buyers with registered sale contract reached 353 for Jan 2020 alone. Of these 71% of buyers were Non-EU citizens.
| Property buyers 2019/2020 | EU | Non-EU |
| Jan 2019 | 140 | 248 |
| Feb 2019 | 170 | 265 |
| Mar 2019 | 138 | 217 |
| Apr 2019 | 156 | 312 |
| May 2019 | 183 | 458 |
| Jun 2019 | 171 | 196 |
| Jul 2019 | 190 | 242 |
| Aug 2019 | 140 | 150 |
| Sep 2019 | 147 | 176 |
| Oct 2019 | 182 | 187 |
| Nov 2019 | 172 | 229 |
| Dec 2019 | 202 | 227 |
| Jan 2020 | 118 | 235 |
Paphos and Larnaca registered the most foreign property buyers for Jan 2020
| Jan (2020) | EU | Non-EU |
| Nicosia | 9 | 11 |
| Famagusta | 8 | 27 |
| Larnaca | 23 | 68 |
| Limassol | 18 | 45 |
| Paphos | 60 | 84 |
The Cyprus citizenship by investment program (CIP) is set to annual quota of 700 applicants per year. Looking at the one year data, the number of property purchases by non-EU citizens, far exceeds the 700 quota, reaching 3142 buyers in one year alone. The data does not tell how many bough properties for citizenship and how many for golden visas.
As per the Cyprus investment program (CIP) rules, applicants must buy investment property for €2 million euros of which €500,000 must be on a permanent home. As per the new rules implemented in 2019, they also must pay additional €150K for housing development and research.
The Cyprus citizenship program remains the most successful investment programs in Europe. The program has spurred large scale real estate developments in major areas, adding approximately €1.7 billion euros to Cyprus GDP through the limited citizenship quota.
As of 2020, there are currently more than 600 agents, law firms and property developers in Cyprus approved by Government in the CIP registry, competing for 700 clients every year and are licensed to promote the the Cyprus investment scheme.
Looking at the latest data on building permits, during the period January – October 2019, a total 5.864 building permits were issued compared to 5.332 in the corresponding period of the previous year. The total value of these permits increased by 70,4% and the total area by 44,4%. Τhe number of dwelling units recorded an increase of 48,7%.
The Statistics office report the number of building permits authorized by the municipal authorities and the district administration offices during October 2019 stood at 663. The total value of these permits reached €216,1 million and the total area 179,9 thousand square metres. These building permits provide for the construction of 744 dwelling units.
