ESTATE Agents in the north have conceded that the once-booming property market is in freefall and teetering on the brink of collapse as a result of the Orams ruling.
News of the verdict spread like wildfire, leaving thousands of Britons and other Europeans reeling at the developments in London. Many, realising their property investments were no-longer cast-iron, raced to place their properties on the open market.
In an effort to calm down worried residents, the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce Gunay Cerkez said that Britons, who are panicking at the verdict, must receive urgent guarantees – in an effort to stop them from abandoning their homes in the north.
The buying of property has almost ground to a complete halt, with estate agents struggling to survive as many home owners are concerned that they may soon face a similar fate to David and Linda Orams.
Most of the leading agencies were not even answering their phones yesterday, with all but one agent point-blank refusing to discuss the implications of the Orams case.
A saleswoman for one of the leading realty firms did however comment and warned that things would get worse for ‘everybody in the TRNC’.
“We are not selling any property – not at all. We are waiting for an announcement from the government, it would be best to call back in the future – that is the situation,” she said.
Asked if the rock-bottom prices, which have seen the value of some homes slashed by 50 per cent, would decrease even further, she said: “Yes, they certainly could, keep checking our website.”
In a sign of growing desperation, one estate agent dealing properties in Salamis and Famagusta was yesterday offering brand new apartments for just £20,000, but insisted that payments must be in sterling cash.
The same agent added that he also had luxury apartments normally priced at £49,000 but would sell them for just £25,000 each – again only for cash.
Most experts agree that the Orams ruling will probably prove to be the final nail in the coffin for the once lucrative property market, which recorded record sales after the failure of the Annan plan in 2004.
Only last month Sonar Yetkili from the Construction Contractors Union said that the British expat market was ‘over’ and sales had ground to a virtual standstill.
To compound matters further, Turkish Cypriot media has reported that up to 7,000 unfinished homes have been abandoned by builders, with experts saying half of the properties were poorly constructed or illegal.
Turkish Cypriot authorities have faced a wave of criticism in recent months from residents who complained of being ‘ripped off’ and receiving shoddily built houses.
Serden Hoca, a Turkish Cypriot member of committee which discusses the property issue at the negotiations, said that around ten thousand foreigners reside in the north, and admitted that a number of these will sell their property out of sheer panic.
Foreign property investments are estimated to have injected £1 billion into the Turkish Cypriot economy in recent years.
Meanwhile, mystery surrounds the disappearance of a popular internet message board used by British residents in the north Cyprus.
Just hours after the UK Appeals Court announced that Linda and David Orams would have to demolish their home, the internet board was flooded with concerned residents, many expressing shock at the decision.
By mid-afternoon on Tuesday the website had gone offline and theories abound on other internet sites as to the closure of the forum.
“The website is down because it was being subjected to an attack – a deliberate attempt to overload it,” wrote one forum user.
Another commented: “The website was taken down by its owners to hide the identities and photographs of members who now face claims against their property in the UK.”
