Vocal Voices

I read in the papers this week that in the Greek half of Cyprus there are over 250,000 empty shops, offices and houses / apartments.
This is some building boom and bust, because the population of that part of Cyprus is less than one million!

My ex and her 2nd hubs bought an apartment just outside Paphos, well before the € and the current crisis. I wonder how that is working out for them?

250,000 empty house/shop units for such a small population could lead to some bargains for those looking for a cheap property. On the other hand, it could cause a collapse in an already fragile market.

Yes, it could do. It's a mixed picture. On the one hand you have people asking 70,000 euro for a pile of stones (sorry, village house in need of restoration, amazing views) and on the other 200,000 euro houses now on offer at 140,000 euro. Modern villas and apartments seem to be taking the biggest hit. Also there still look to be builders trying to sell off-plan, judging by the CG images of new developments - good luck with that!

cromwell wrote:Modern villas and apartments seem to be taking the biggest hit.

That's what I suspected. I have read a figure somewhere that the drop was as large as 60% in some places. I also know that my ex has not been getting the holiday rental income that was expected when the place was bought. At least it is already paid off.

I suppose that all she and others, including Cypriots, can do is sit it out till things improve.

Workingman wrote:I suppose that all she and others, including Cypriots, can do is sit it out till things improve.

Good luck with that. It's 5 years in France now since prices started falling. There are a few sales but most are between 25% and 40% of the value they would have gained at the peak. It takes time for markets to adjust. Especially markets that move very slowly and are very conservative. In the end it may be the builders selling off at near cost who finally drive the prices down.

But if there are truly 250,000 properties empty, then I can see no way that Cyprus can survive this in their current form. Eventually they will wind up having to sell at whatever someone is willing to buy and that someone will probably be a very large conglomerate looking for a long term investment. In the end that conglomerate will wind up with a very large monopoly in Cypriot reel estate.

I doubt the Cypriots even understand what is going to happen to them. Yet they all want to stay in the Euro, they see it as their saviour...

The only people they are kidding are themselves. They fought to get out of British rule, only to lose half the island to the Turks. Now it seems that they are going to lose what is left to the ECB, France and Germany....

And we think our politicians are bad... Although, apparently, we're willing to throw it all away too on the EU, if not the Euro....