Despite the crisis prevailing in the market, purchases of expensive real estate do not seem to be affected so much especially in Limassol.
According to a research concerning residential property that cost over 2 million euro, it seems that especially large projects in Limassol keep this market alive.
It is significant that only in the first half of 2012, 14 out of the 16 residential properties worth more than 2 million euro sold nationwide were located in Limassol.
In 2011, 17 out of 25 properties were sold in Limasol. In 2010, five out of 15 and in 2009 five from a total of 11. The large number of sales recorded in 2011, primarily due to sales made in Limassol Marina, while for this year other projects contributed positively, such as the Opera House from Askani Developers and the Halcyon from Stavros Demosthenous.
During the period 2009-2011 satisfactory property sales in properties worth over 2 million euro were also achieved in Paphos, where a total of 14 properties were sold. However, according to the data gathered, during the first half of 2012 only one property over 2 million euro was sold.
In the free part of Famagusta district, from 2009 until the first half of 2012 only three properties were sold, of which the one during the last quarter.
The sales in Larnaca follow the same pattern with four properties being sold during the last three and a half years, yet with no sales in 2012.
In Nicosia, oddly enough, there were only two sales of properties worth more than 2 million euro, during the reporting period. A sale was made in 2010 and one in 2011. The reporters believe that this is due to the fact that over 90% of purchases are made by Cypriots, but also because many Cypriots choose to build their own home than buy ready made from a developer.
Mainly Homes & Organized Developments
It is important that 75% of 67 properties sold between 2009 and the first half of 2012, involved mainly houses. The investigation indicates that the majority of the expensive properties that were purchased are part of larger organized developments and are not individual homes. At the same time, most are newly built or in the final stages of construction and especially in areas near the sea.
Sea-view Is Not Everything
Based on the geographical distribution of these sales, it seems that sea-view is not the only criterion for buyers at this level, since they take into account the comforts they will receive. Possibly this is the reason they prefer properties which are part of larger developments, as they offer other amenities like round the clock security, controlled access, maintenance of communal gardens, etc. Also, the most expensive properties are those that are adjacent to the beach as they are unique and there are not many beachfront pieces of land for development.
"Cheap" Or Expensive
Of particular interest is the distribution of property prices in this category, since the research demonstrates that most transactions (70-80%) are closed between 2-3 million euro. Extremely limited are the transactions closing between 3-5 million euro, while transactions for properties over five million are restricted to 5-10% of the total.
A significant number of transactions exceeded 5 millions was marked in the first half of 2012, while the report notes that "during the third quarter of 2012, as appears, there was a further increase in transactions over 2 million euros, with transactions over 5 million euros to note a soaring increase, since work on several projects in this category are in advanced stage and buyers already proceed to completion of the transactions. "
The report expects that the demand for this level of real estate will continue to grow and that soon the market will not be able to supply additional projects since most have been sold and there are no other under construction. "There is a very specific part of the market which can be targeted with great precision. The issue is to have the data and expertise to identify and analyze it", they conclude.