“The small increase, the second in a row, reflects the recovery of the real estate sector,” the Central Bank of Cyprus said in a statement on its website on Monday.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, apartment prices rose a quarterly 1.3% while house prices dropped 0.1%, the central bank said. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, apartment prices rose in October to December 1.9% while house prices dropped in equal measure.

Home prices rose a quarterly 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2016 in both Nicosia and Limassol district and 2% in Famagusta, the bank supervisor said. Prices dropped 1.1% and 0.7% in Paphos and Larnaca respectively.

In Limassol, home prices dropped 0.5% in the fourth quarter compared to the respective quarter of 2015, the central bank said. In Nicosia, prices dropped 1.1%, in Larnaca and Paphos 1.5% and in the Famagusta area 5.6%.

Apartment prices rose in the last quarter of 2016 compared to July to September in all districts but Paphos, where they dropped 2.4%, the central bank said. In Limassol, flat prices rose 2%, in Larnaca 1.9%, in Nicosia 0.8% and in Famagusta 0.1%.

The central bank said that the drop in flat prices in Paphos would have been smaller if debt-to-asset swaps as part of loan restructuring agreements had not been taken to account.
House prices rose in the fourth quarter of 2016 in Nicosia and Famagusta 0.4% and 0.5% respectively, the central bank said. In Limassol, house prices remained stable and dropped 2.1% and 0.7% in Larnaca and Paphos respectively.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, flat prices rose in October to December last year in Nicosia “for the first time” 0.3%, in Limassol 1.6%, in Larnaca 2.8% and in Paphos 2.2%, the central bank said. In Famagusta, apartment prices plunged 6.4%.

House prices, on the other hand, fell in the last quarter of 2016 an annual 1.6% in Nicosia, 1.2% in Limassol, 3.5% in Larnaca, 1.5% Paphos and 4.6% in Famagusta, the central bank said.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, transactions rose 70% and construction activity rose 18%, the central bank added.

Source: Cyprus Mail