Cyprus property sales dive 72% in January ‘09

Cyprus property sale contracts declined by 72% Year-on-Year in January 2009 accounting to data issued by the Land Registry Department.
The total number of contracts for sale lodged with the Land Registry Department were 452 in January 2009 compared to 1615 a year ago. The number of contracts for sale is steadily declining since in December the number was 624, in November 782, in October 1016 and in September 1157.
Nicosia witnessed a 72% decline to 103 contracts from 367, Limassol saw a 50% decline to 151 from 301, Larnaca was down 78% to 76 from 345, the free areas of Famagusta were down 80% to 37 from 187 while Paphos was down 78% to 91 contracts compared to 415 a year ago in the same month.
The sharp reduction in property sale contracts is noticeable even in Limassol where the demand is maintained in some degree by Russians.
The government of Cyprus, which received EUR 470 mln in revenue from capital gains taxes on property sales in 2007 and a further EUR 300 in 2008 is keen to boost the sector, which is why recently (announced at the beginning of February) it decided to allocate EUR 200 mln to the construction sector.