The real estate ownership map in Cyprus, primarily due to bad debts, has changed considerably, especially after the Church of Cyprus’ loan restructuring programme, where part of the property given for remission was subsequently sold to Russians.

The Bank of Cyprus’ Property Management Unit (REMU) Bank of Cyprus, which collects expensive property from debtors to erase their debts, has been especially busy.

The Bank of Cyprus recently, due to debt repayment, sold in Paphos hotel ’Pafian Park’ for €11million to a Russian buyer. The privately owned hotel was built on land that belonged to the Church

The Hellenic Bank has sold coastal property belonging to the Archbishopric next to the ‘Le Meridien’ hotel in Limassol.

The property which was part of a loan restructuring agreement between the Archbishopric and the bank was sold for €43 million to a Russian investor while a parcel of land exactly next to it was sold to a far-eastern Investment Fund for €28 million by the Bank of Cyprus.

At present, REMU has sold real estate to the tune of €160 million.

By the end of 2016, REMU had 1,124 units of real estate in its property portfolio valued at €1.4 billion.

Source: InCyprus