The property market in North Cyprus is, at the moment, probably more exhilarating than anywhere else in Europe. With the price of land and property in North Cyprus already shooting up, thanks to the renewed drive toward reunification that last February’s election in the Greek Cypriot side – an election which saw liberal, pro reunion Demetris Christofias oust the five year incumbent, conservative and vehemently anti reunion Tassos Papadopoulos – helped bring about.
Property prices in the North Cyprus are currently nowhere near as high as those in the South, where property boomed prior to EU ascension, and lower still than those countries whose names alone represented a tip on buying investment property (I’m thinking here of Southern France and Spain in particular).
There are many reasons explaining exactly why property prices are lower in North Cyprus – less developed infrastructure and lack of direct flights, for example – but all of these reasons can be summed up in one word: division.
The division which has split the Island since 1974 has meant that there have been, for many years, no direct flights into the North from anywhere but Turkey. However, with the Green Line (the border that separates the North from the South) now open it is easy enough to fly direct into the Republic of Cyprus and then cross into the North. Since this development tourism into the North has increased as the layover in Turkey is no longer a necessity, and many shrewd investors have been busy buying Cyprus holiday property.
Should Cyprus reunify – as both Mehmet Ali Talat and Demetris Christofias, the leaders of North and South Cyprus respectively, want to happen – then the increase in property values which is already taking place would truly snowball, and for this reason property developers and individuals looking to make money investing in real estate are both taking huge interest in the current round of negotiations, which are taking place each week following the historic first meeting of September the third this year.
On the fifteenth of this month, the leaders met –again in the UN buffer zone, again flanked by advisers – to continue constructing a workable blueprint for reunification. Alexander Downer, the Australian UN special envoy to Cyprus said that ‘the talks have been productive and the talks have been fruitful.’ He went on to confirm that diplomats from the North of Cyprus would once again meet their Greek Cypriot counterparts on September the 18th of this year.
The subject of the talks on the fifteenth was governance and, in terms of time frame, this issue will continue over into the next meeting. After that the two leaders will go onto discuss property. Talat has announced his desire to see a blueprint on the table within the year.
With the credit crunch firmly taking its toll on the property market in the UK investors who previously would have looked locally to make an investment in rental property are looking abroad for the best opportunities. With the Euro currently strong against the Pound, it doesn’t make much sense to put money into those countries whose very names I earlier described as once having being tips on buying investment properties. In North Cyprus, not only is property values set to boom, but property is actually purchased in pounds, making it a doubly appealing investment opportunity.
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