Cypriot Property Market Showing Recovery Signs

Those of you with property in Cyprus will be very glad to hear that the latest news from the Mediterranean island is quite positive. This good news comes courtesy of the wonderful Cyprus Property Magazine website run by Nigel Howarth. If you've any interest in the Cypriot property market then this site is a must visit.

"According to figures released by the Department of Lands and Surveys, 803 contracts of sale were deposited at Land Registries throughout Cyprus during May, the highest number since July 2009.

Throughout the first five months of 2010 the number of contracts of sale deposited at Land Registries throughout Cyprus amounted to 3,544 compared to 2,838 during the same period last year; an increase of 25%, with Nicosia and Limassol keeping domestic demand at a higher level than last year.

However, last years figures were exceptionally low and overall sales this year are still down by more than 60% on the numbers sold during the same period in 2008.

There are also encouraging signs that the number foreigners buying property is increasing, with the number of contracts deposited at Land Registries on behalf during the first five months of the year up by 7% on the same period in 2009.

Nicosia is doing particularly well with property sales to non-Cypriots up by 92% this year followed by Famagusta, where sales have risen by 10%.

But in the other coastal towns, which are largely dependent on external demand, sales are not doing so well. Sales in Limassol are down 6%, in Larnaca they are down by 4% and in Paphos they are down by 3% compared to last year.

Last years figures were exceptionally low and sales to non-Cypriots this year are still down by almost 80% on the numbers sold during the same period in 2008.

The article, along with property sales tables, can be found at the Cyprus Property News website.

Could Spain be Moving in the Right Direction?

Mark Stucklin reports over at Spanish Property Insight that there may actually be some light at then end of the tunnel for the the misfortunate Spanish property industry. 

Of course we're at a period when there may be a lot of straw grasping done, so I wouldn't be inclined to hold my breath, but it is, nonetheless, better than the constant barrage of negative indicators this market has thrown up over the past half decade.

An article in ‘El Mundo’, one of Spain’s leading news papers, suggests there may be signs of recovery in the Spanish property market, in one of the first positive articles on the outlook for the market since the crisis began.

The newspaper has described this as potentially; "the beginning of the end of the worst period for property sales since the crisis began."

The article has pointed out that real estate markets may have bottomed out in the US, the UK, and France, which isn't really a given, and then goes on to suggest that Spain may also be part of this trend - not really a given either unfortunately - but worth a shot I guess. 

The optimism comes from a report by Gonzalo Bernardos, a property market expert and professor of economics at the University of Barcelona, who suggests that the Spanish property market may come back to life this year, following a dismal 2008.

Thee five key reasons he gives are that; “Interest rates are lower; house prices have fallen back to their 2003 levels; banks are lending more; investors are coming back; and many people who were thinking of renting have decided to buy.”

Let's hope the new found optimism isn't ill-founded.

You can read the full piece here. 

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