House prices up 0.1% in Q3, says Central Bank

The house price improved marginally in the third quarter of 2016, according to the the Central Bank of Cyprus index that saw its first increase since 2009.

Prices for apartments and houses increased by 0.1%, the central bank said, noting that this small increase suggests that the prices continue to stabilise.

This follows last week’s release of the third quarter RICS Property Price Index that saw prices for both houses and flats increased in the third quarter by 0.6% and 0.9% respectively.

On an annual basis, the central bank index dropped 1.3% in the third quarter of the previous year, compared to an annual decrease of 3.7% in the corresponding quarter of 2015. The RICS index, however, had seen a year on year increase of 0.6% for flats, 0.9% for houses, 0.9% for offices, while warehouses were stable. An increase of 0.8% for retail was also noted.

The central bank survey found that house prices fell by 1.3% year on year and apartment prices by 1%, compared to the annual fall of 3.9% and 2.8%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2015.

The index recorded quarterly increases of 0.3% in Limassol, 0.2% in Larnaca and 0.3% in Paphos, while Nicosia and Famagusta recorded a decrease of 0.2% and 1.1% respectively.

On an annual basis, all housing prices dropped in all districts, apart from Paphos which presented stabilisation. In the capital Nicosia, the index was down by 2.1%, in Limassol by 0.9%, in Larnaca by 0.9% and in Famagusta by 3.6%.

Interestingly, ten years ago today, the Financial Mirror reported that house prices had resumed their climb. After monthly falls towards the end of 2006, residential house prices resumed their climb in January 2007, according to the BuySell Home Price Index, the first month-on-month rise since August 2006.

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