Property sales fall due to elections

Property sales fell in the first five months of 2024, according to statistics from the Land Registry.

The market is dealing with uncertainty, owing mostly to rising interest rates, which appear to be hurting demand for housing. Furthermore, the municipal and European elections had a significant impact on May's sales results.

According to data from the Land Registry, there were 6,231 property sales documents recorded in the first five months of 2024, a 1% decline from 6,292 in the same time previous year.

Marios Kapnisis, Senior Manager of KPMG Cyprus' Land and Construction Development Sector, stated that while the January-May comparison reveals a slight 1% reduction, May's performance was particularly disappointing because of to the elections.

A breakdown by province analysis, property sales dropped in all cities except Nicosia and Larnaca.

"Limassol remains the market leader in absolute numbers, despite experiencing a double-digit decrease compared to the same period in 2023", Kapnisis said. "Nicosia had the highest increase over the first five months, followed by Larnaca. Paphos experienced the greatest reduction, but Famagusta also observed a fall".

Kapnisis further stated that the broad trend suggests that the real estate market is operating similarly to 2023, with some encouraging indicators for the sector's overall trajectory. More definitive findings will be formed after analysing the first half of the year.

In May, 1,268 sales documents were filed, down 17% from 1,526 in May 2023. In contrast, April showed a 15% rise.

Property sales in 2023 smashed the highest level since 2007, with 16,000 sales documents filed, exceeding 2019 records and approaching 2007's milestone of 21,000.