Despite rejection of the Annan plan, foreigners keen for a home in the sun are snapping up properties in the north
PURCHASE OF property in the occupied north is booming, with foreign investors flocking to Kyrenia and Famagusta to cash in on cut-price land and houses, according to claims by Pan Cyprian Real Estate Agents Association president Solomon Courouclides.
“Foreign interest has increased greatly in the north, especially after the opening of crossing points,” he said, adding that there has been a 100 per cent increase in the number of building permits granted in the last three months.
Courouclides says the greatest interest is in the Kyrenia area, but that development was also expanding in Famagusta and Trikomo.
These comments are backed by estate agents in the north who say that business is booming, as it is for property developers too.
“There has been a tremendous increase, mainly from UK buyers,” said Ian Smith, an estate agent who has been on the island and in the real estate business for more than 20 years.
He says that simply by witnessing the number of new real estate agents that have sprung up in Kyrenia over the last few years, it is obvious how things have grown.
“When we started in 1984, there were three of us [estate agents]. Now there are 26 in the Kyrenia area alone, all of them are quite busy”.
As well as the British, Smith says he has seen a marked increase in the number of foreign development companies moving in to cash in on the boom, particularly Israelis.
“There are a few Israeli companies buying land in Karmi, Lapithos and Ayios Epiktitos.” He says they are most keen to buy Turkish Cypriot properties, rather than those abandoned by Greek Cypriots, despite the fact that they are more expensive than the equivalent Greek Cypriot property.
Smith says one Israeli developer recently bought a 70-donum plot near Kazafani that prior to 1974 belonged to a Lebanese man. The company will now develop the land as a holiday village.
Cemil Tamcelik of Buy and Sell Estate Agency in Kyrenia said he believed there were at least ten Israeli developers in the area purchasing land in the Ayios Amvrosios area and the Karpass.
He added that overall property sales had doubled in the last year and a half.
The consensus among estate agents in Kyrenia is that the Annan plan has been good for business since the property regime of the plan gave priority to the current occupier if ‘improvements’ had been made to the property. Building on an empty plot of land is termed as ‘improvement’, according to the plan.
However, despite rejection of the plan by Greek Cypriots in last month’s referendum the boom has not ended, signifying a widespread belief that the UN-backed peace deal may yet see implementation.
Tamcelik says prices have increased dramatically, but not enough to scare off potential investors.
“In Kyrenia you can get a donum of land for between £40,000 and £50,000 pounds sterling,” he said, adding that a donum in out of town in places like Ayios Amvrosios can cost as little as £8,000 to £15,000.
Even though Turkish Cypriot houses are still the most sought after as there is no possibility of facing the expensive compensation claims that there may be with buying Greek Cypriot property, foreigners have now been prohibited from buying Turkish Cypriot properties after a moratorium was slapped on sales amid fears by the Turkish Cypriot ‘government’ that its people would be tempted to sell up and move out. But this has not completely stopped foreigners from getting their hands on Turkish title deeds.
“They get around the problem by getting a Turkish Cypriot ‘partner’ to form a company that buys the property”.
Turkish Cypriot properties are currently sold at around two-and-a-half times the cost of an equivalent Greek Cypriot property (in the north), Tamcelik added.
