Flat and house prices rose in the second quarter a quarterly 1.5% and 1.6% respectively, “with the biggest increase being in Limassol with quarterly increase of 3.8% for flats and houses,” RICS said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. The increase was even higher for holiday apartments and holiday flats whose prices rose 2.6% and 1.9%.

“Limassol showed the highest quarterly increases for holiday apartments with an increase of 4.2% and Paphos for holiday homes with an increase of 3%,” the statement said.

Compared with the second quarter of 2016, apartment and house prices rose island-wide in April to June 6.2% and 4.7% respectively, the institute said.

Commercial property prices rose in all categories both on an annual and quarterly basis in the second three-month period of the year, the institute said. Shop prices rose a quarterly 2% in the second quarter while those for offices and warehouses rose 1.6% and 0.2% in the second quarter. Compared with the second quarter of 2016, office prices increased 3.7% followed by a 4.5% increase in prices for shops and 2.8% for warehouses.

The general increase in property prices, boosted by a variety of factors including a recovering economy, tax breaks and demand for golden visas and passports, led to a strong increase in rents, RICS said.

In the second quarter “across Cyprus, on a quarterly basis rental values increased by 3% for apartments, 1% for houses, 2% for retail, 3.7% for offices and 0.7% for warehouses,” the institute said.

Compared to April to June last year, rents increased 8.3% for flats, 10.2% for houses, 6.8% for retail, 14.4% for offices and for warehouses 4.2%, it added.

The RICS report said that in the second quarter of the year, gross yields for flats and houses stood at 4.1% and 2.1% respectively, while in the case of retail, the yield for warehouses and offices stood at 5.4%, 4.3% and 4.9% respectively.

Source: Cyprus Mail