Cyprus-Forum.com

[craigbeck]

"A group of Greek and Turkish Cypriot researchers conducted the survey. According to their calculations, the reunification of Cyprus would bring each Cypriot family a dividend of 5,500 euro per year in the first seven years. "

What does everyone think will happen to house prices?

C

[Jerry]

In Cyprus the ordinary laws of suply and demand don't seem to apply to house prices. Visitors down 20% in January (presumably some came to look at property) £ Sterling falls against the Euro and yet the rate of property price growth in European countries was highest in Cyprus and Iceland last year (15%) It will be interesting to see what happens this summer. Many Cypriots may not need to buy property if they get suitable compensation resulting from re-unification but what the effect of getting Famagusta back will be is anybody's guess.

[Oracle]

Long term .... sky high ... will end up as the costliest place in Europe .. due to its extreme southerly-ness ... usual pattern!

Short term ... minor fluctuations depending more on type and location of property.

If the Brits are hard up for a few years ... there are plenty of other nations that are not!

If you can afford it ... buy it!

BTW ... this is irrespective of re-unification.

Post re-unification ... well you had better have your nest egg sorted!

[craigbeck]

Surely prices can't get much higher!

[Nikitas]

Reunification assumes that Famagusta will be returned to GC control along with Morphou and some of the bigger villages in the Mesaoria. Famagusta is the key here.

Forty thousand people lived there, divided by 4 that makes 10 000 dwellings that will be rebuilt. Which means an oversupply of accomodation. A simplistic application of the supply and demand laws point to a drop in house prices. But things might not be so simplistic, perhaps expat Cypriots will buy excess supply and thus keep the prices up.

If Famagusta gets off as a project there will be many people with funds available to rebuild their houses. So what might happens is that land and space are available but building labour and materials are short. So prices do not fall.

Hard to tell.

One thing I do want to see though is a proper town plan to be put together for Famagusta, and not the diabolical favoring of the rich hotel owners and "developers" as is the norm around the Med.

[humanist]

Why do you think Famagusta will e a different story Nikitas?

[Sotos]

I think it will depend on solution. If solution is not good and can make Cyprus unstable then many people will be selling and few will be buying because not many will want to invest in a country which is unstable. This is not just for land but for everything else. But this will not happen because Greek Cypriots will vote for a solution only if it is stable. If the solution is good and stable everybody will gain I think.

[Nikitas]

Andrea,

Famagusta is more than just building houses. It will have to be rebuilt as a city from scratch. It is a huge civil engineering project similar to those built in the Gulf in the 80s. It will attract tenders from big international firms, create jobs for thousands at all levels, from town planners and architects to craftsmen etc. It is easily a 5 billion Euro project, the largest in the island's history.

It is the biggest prize in the history of Cyprus and you can understand the dealing that must be going on. WHo gets the land is a foregone conclusion- the people who lived there, who makes the money is the mystery.

[purdey]

With ref to Phoenix post.97 % of tourists to Cyprus are the British,92% of foreign house purchases are British.
The Cypriot Tourism Dept,now rarely market Cyprus as tourist destination to other European nationals.
The North was a favourite of Germans for a few years,now the bottom has fallen out of that market,too many burnt their fingers with the lack of property resale,as they experienced in Spain.

[CopperLine]

What are the 'laws' of supply and demand ? I hope that people don't mean that when supply is restricted that prices are high and vice versa. This is not a law, it is a delusion (or mystification).