Property sales plunge 48% in December

Sale documents on property purchases submitted to the Land Registry dropped by half in December 2018.

Some 48% fewer sales documents were submitted compared to the same month in 2017, with real estate specialists, however, not appearing particularly concerned.

The biggest dip was recorded in the Famagusta district with a 73% drop, with Nicosia followed with a 57% decrease. Limassol saw 45% less sales, followed by Larnaca with 43% and Paphos with 34%.

The December drop is in contrast to the trend building up throughout 2018 which saw an overall increase of 6% island-wide compared to the previous year.

It is worth noting that the submission of title deeds in 2017 was up by 24% compared to the previous year.

Based on the data from the Land Registry, the first conclusion one may draw is that there is a significant decrease in the sales for December, which may indicate a trend in the real estate sector.

However, real estate specialists say not to read too much into December’s statistics.

RICS President Thomas Dimopoulos in comments to Phileleftheros said: “We reported that the drop occurring at the end of 2018, compared to December 2017, is due to the fact that a 19% VAT was imposed on land sales as of 1/1/2018 which led many people deciding to buy property before the end of 2017.”

Echoing the same argument, George Mouskides, President of the Cyprus Real Estate Association (KSIA), confirmed that the decrease was due to the VAT factor,