Property: Very good year ahead, gas to boost interest

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* Brexit will have little impact on British buyers *

By Panayiotis Michaelides

We expect 2016 to be a very good year for the real estate sector. According to the oÃ¯Â¬ƒcial statistics by the Cyprus Land Registry Department, there was a 27% increase in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the first quarter in 2015. (Q1 2016 units sold 1881 vs Q1 2015 units sold 1479). The increased demand on properties derived primarily from the Russian, Chinese, Middle East and the Arab Gulf markets.

The British market shrank in 2010 and today represents only a very small percentage of property sales.
Therefore any Brexit effects will be minimal.
Looking ahead, the Cyprus economy has turned around. The government predicts some 2.7% growth for 2016, which is one of the highest growth rates in the European Union. Tourism saw a record in arrivals in 2015 with 2.7 million tourists – an 8.9% increase compared to the previous year and indications are that 2016 will build on this growth.
According to the Cyprus Tourism Organisation this year’s tourist arrivals are expected to be close or even exceed the 3 million mark.
The discovery of signiÃ¯Â¬cant natural gas reserves in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus and the nearby Tamar and Leviathan Ã¯Â¬elds in Israel, as well as recent finds in Egypt, has indicated enormous petroleum and natural gas potentials in the region, deeming the circumstances for exploitation and production of oil and gas in Cyprus extremely positive and attracting great international interest from major energy providers.
All these facts will definitely have a very positive impact on the real estate industry.

Panayiotis Michaelides is Marketing Manager at Leptos Estates
www.leptosestates.com