Assetz® News » HOME | RSS Feed FEED | LIST ALL ARTICLES | ASSETZ HOMEPAGE
Investment Property News from Assetz

Assetz® Property News Service

Cyprus defies world slide

2nd September 2008 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

Today is a significant day in the modern history of the ancient island of Cyprus, as the leaders of the Greek south and Turkish north meet face-to-face to begin talks about the possible reunification of the island.

Yet while this may be the start of a successful (though possibly protracted) process and lead to some new property opportunities at some point in the future, the news about Cyprus that may be of much greater interest to those buying investment property now may have come from a very different source.

The latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index has given an interesting and wide-ranging insight into the global scene, not to mention the place of Cyprus in it. Overall and perhaps unsurprisingly in view of the credit crunch, the increase in worldwide house prices was down to 4.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2008 from 6.1 per cent in the first quarter.

Despite this, Knight Frank noted, there are many countries that have been doing well in terms of the growing value of property, in contrast to others who are undergoing mild or sometime serious declines. In all, eight countries still have annual house price inflation of over ten per cent. Britain may no longer be one of them, but Cyprus is.

In fact, the Mediterranean island is one of the few countries where the actual rate of house price inflation is up from the second quarter of 2007, rising from eight per cent to 12.9 per cent, taking Cyprus from 20th to seventh in the growth table.

The question many will ask is whether the trend can continue. Knight Frank's verdict on Cyprus was that the market may be "beginning to plateau", but added: "locations such as Limassol are still attracting buyers and seeing steep price increases."

Such a trend in Limassol may be replicated in Larnaca soon, given the news of a month ago, reported by the Financial Mail, that the Zenon consortium had been awarded the first part of a major contract to turn the coastal town's port into a cruise hub. The prospect of an influx of new liners and a range of other developments the report mentioned - such as a yachting marina, new five-star hotels and a new promenade linking the port with the city centre and beaches - is the sort of development that could boost any town.

The identity of the developer may be in question, as the Cyprus Mail reported last week that the losing bidders for the contract - DJ Karapatakis & Sons and Vouros Consortium - are appealing the decision. But that will not change the fact that Larnaca is in line for the kind of change that could ensure it is a property hotspot irrespective of the state of the market in Cyprus, or indeed the world.

This is a press release by Assetz also available at http://press.assetz.co.uk/articles/4356.html. Alternatively, please see our full press release archive.

Assetz® is a UK and International Property Investment Specialist. Please visit our property sites shown below.

Assetz for Investors UK Assetz Hotels Assetz Homes Assetz International Assetz France Assetz Spain Assetz Cyprus Assetz Germany Assetz Portugal Assetz Ski Assetz Cape Verde Assetz USA Assetz Finance Assetz Fund Management

Accessing the news service

You can view all of the Assetz® UK, International and UK Property Investment Articles and News here.

We also provide an RSS Feed Feed of the news service, or you can view all articles. Click here to view more information on RSS readers and how they make reading online news more convenient.

eXTReMe Tracker