Cyprus home prices drop at slower pace in Q2, says RICS

House prices in Cyprus fell at a slower pace in the second quarter of 2010, with locals starting to make a reappearance on the property market, data from the RICS Cyprus property index showed on Thursday.
Home prices fell on average 2.5% from April to June, compared to a 4.5% drop in the first quarter of the year.
Demand for homes on the east Mediterranean island fell particularly among Britons and Russians as a result of an economic slowdown in their domestic economies, the survey prepared by the Cyprus branch of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Cypriot chartered quantity surveyors showed.
Property sales to non-Cypriots slumped in 2008 and 2009 amid the global economic turmoil. Areas particularly affected were coastal areas popular with tourists.
Apartment prices fell 3.3% in the south-east coastal areas during the second quarter, and in the west home prices fell 4.0%, RICS said.
There were some encouraging signs of an upturn towards the end of the second quarter.
"There were some early signs of stabilisation with local buyers returning to the market to take advantage of lower prices for holiday homes," said Pavlos Loizou, a member of the board of RICS Cyprus.
Rents were up 0.3% on average for apartments, while home rents were down by 2.1%, the RICS survey said.