Sir
I am astounded at the claim quoted in the Cyprus Mail on May 6 that property prices in Cyprus are “considerably lower than France or Spain”. I cannot speak for Spain, as it is a country I do not know well, but we have been seriously looking for property in either Cyprus or France, and I can tell you that French property is still much cheaper than in Cyprus. True, £250,000 may buy you only a two-bedroom apartment in Cannes or St Tropez, but they are hardly comparable with Paphos, are they? In an area of France with comparable facilities, level of development and general ambience to those of Paphos, £250,000 will buy you a very substantial house, probably 12-15 rooms, with a lot of land – several hectares – and a range of outbuildings. A roomy, liveable village house in such an area of France will probably set you back no more than £30,000. On the other hand, we have been looking at ruins in Cyprus, in not particularly attractive locations and needing something like £50-60,000 (at least) spending on them, at asking prices of £60,000 or more – houses which a mere five or six years ago would probably have gone for £8-10,000, or even less.
Frankly, house prices in Cyprus have run amok in the past five years, and part of the problem is simply greed on the part of owners. Many of them seem to think that prospective British buyers have limitless funds and will be prepared to pay preposterous sums for what in many cases is little more than a heap of rubble.
Sadly, this is definitely not the case, and unless Cypriots wake up to the economic realities of house purchase by expat buyers the bottom will very soon drop right out of the market. And as for the claim that Polis is cheaper than Paphos – earlier this year we looked at a couple of houses in Polis that would have been overpriced even in the relatively affluent suburb in which we live in the UK, and for what and where they were the asking prices were simply laughable.
We made the decision some time ago that we wanted to move to Cyprus; we love the island and its people, and have made many good Cypriot friends over the 12 or 15 years we have been visiting Cyprus, usually two or three times a year. We have taken the trouble to learn Greek, as we believe that expats living in Cyprus should have the courtesy to use the local language, and we want to move permanently to Cyprus and contribute as fully as we can to the local economy. Sadly, however, France, though not as attractive a country to us, is exerting an ever-stronger pull, as Cypriot house prices and the cost of living spiral ever upwards. Property prices in Cyprus are already inflated. Up to now we have been prepared to put up with the poor value for money of the property, as it would be offset by the quality of life offered by such a delightful island, but enough is enough; this year will probably see our last house-hunting trip, as I am afraid, unless someone in Cyprus sees sense, we, and I am sure many other potential buyers, will simply take our cash, our investments and our spending power and go somewhere where we really do get value for our money.
Graham Spencer
Solihull, UK
