Whilst there was some turndown in the UK Property Market following September 11th, since which the UK has recovered, there is no sign of it in Cyprus and prices are rising rapidly.

Why are Prices Rising here? There are a number of factors.

There seems to be an ever growing number of people wishing to retire to Cyprus, this is driven by: 
people taking early retirement, the considerable equity many British people have from the substantial UK property prices over the last few years, the relative strength of the UK£ against the CY£ (up about 70% in the last 10 years,) People being more adventurous in their retirement planning, A growing discontent with life in the UK

2 EU Accession:

Companies will be able to set themselves up much more freely here once EU Accession is complete in May
2004, driving up the need for land for their premises and employees, as well as growing the Economy 
In advance of Accession, the need for Work Permits will be relaxed and private individuals will move to 
CY to work for themselves or existing companies,

3 The CY Stock Market:

In less than 18 months this rose from a starting 100 points to a peak of 849, before dropping back to 120 in the last year or so.  So a few individuals and Institutions became very cash rich and needed to move their investment out of a rapidly falling Market.  So for the last year they have been competing with the Developers to buy up all available land.

4 Increasing tightening of Land regulation and Increasing realisation of the value of Land:

The  impression is that the Government, at local level, is gradually tightening the things up and enforcing construction regulations, including restricting 'covered area densities'.  One area has a density of 10%, meaning that any building can only cover 10% of the plot area; this in turn means that larger plots are required for any construction, again reducing what is available.While there is still some 'get rich quick' activity by local Land owners, others have realised that by hanging onto plots for a year or so, they will grow in value perhaps 20%, while interest on conventional investments are falling rapidly.

So what's the Impact of all of this?

So when increasing Demand meets decreasing Supply it results a dramatic rise in the price of land and consequently of existing Properties. It has reached the stage where agricultural land is being bought up, by those who are prepared to wait for the Government to release it in years to come for property development. (As an example, Leptos have 1500 acres of forest/agricultural land, which surrounds the dual carriage approach road to the Paphos tourist strip, and are just biding their time).

^{Land prices in Paphos have increased around 30% in each of the last two years; a donum (1338sm) of land in the ever-popular Peyia has increased from around £20,000 a year ago to £45,000 now.  We know of an owner of a property who has been offered 25% more than they paid for it when it was bought in April..}

^{So how do you cope with this as a potential buyer?}

Until now the perceived wisdom was to rent for a year or so before buying. This allowed you time to make the right choice regarding location and developer and the increase in the value of your UK property more than offset the cost of accommodation rental and the marginal rise in CY Property prices.  All very sensible.  However, this now becomes a much less attractive option as: Rental prices are rising rapidly here, CY property prices may be increasing by 20%+ annually and unless you live in a favoured SE location in the UK, property prices there have slowed significantly.  Maybe the one-year rental may not be the right choice for many in the light of the changed market conditions - though it will remain right for some.  Choose your Developer carefully, that sounds very obvious, but there is a feeling here that many buy properties from major Developers who may not offer best Value For Money. This is where Living-Cyprus score. They are completely independent and have many conatcts with many smaller developers who can offer better prices.
You have nothing to lose by using our services. See what we can do for you!

^{Just some more reasons why you should use our services. They are FREE, you are never under any obligation and we advise and assist you all the way and after for as long as you want. We are waiting for your call..}