Category: Cyprus News

The Cyprus Property Action Group (CPAG) has written an open letter to the Cyprus Mail.

Remember the Informer Editorial on “Cyprus Government will have to write off Cyprus Bank Debts“?

Well following the many articles that we have published since about the failing Cyprus Economy and the shenanigans in the Cyprus Banks (What is going on in the Cyprus Banks?), CPAG has found that the Eire Government also has problems with market exposures to property developers and the Eire Banks.

In Ireland the government has turned to the international money markets with a semi commercial scheme before it falls into the same case as Greece.

THE AVERAGE price per house in Cyprus has reached €2,000 per square metre and €1,865 per square metre for an apartment, according to the first-ever quarterly Cyprus Property Price Index (PPI), launched yesterday.

The average home purchase price in Nicosia at the start of 2010 is €523,438 compared to €496,250 in Limassol but when it comes to apartments, the situation is reversed with the average price in Nicosia at €171,155 and Limassol €177,978. Office space in Nicosia is the highest in all areas at €758,000 per unit on average.

The Cyprus Informer can add a great deal more to the following story in the Cyprus Mail which suggests that Cyprus lawyers are able to avoid accountability under the law because of a closed shop protection system. They won’t take action against each other actually.  But it is even worse than that.  Cyprus Deputies (MP’s) need to do much, much more to expose the whole problem and do something about it.

It is often been suggested that if you have a complaint against a Cyprus lawyer that you can pay a small fee of around Euro 80 and ask the Cyprus Bar Association to refer the matter to the Disciplinary Board of Advocates which is headed by no less than the Attorney General of Cyprus.

The Cyprus Mail published two articles on 6 and 7 January.  Having read them both here is a brief summary.

With everything that has been said  both in and out of  the Cyprus Government in the last few days about what this new Cyprus Property Tax will be or will not be, all of this means absolutely nothing because, strangely, it was announced by Cyprus Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis without, it seems, any research or preparation work having been done by the Officials in the Finance Ministry who said quite clearly yesterday that “the proposed changes to the property law are a political matter at the moment.” Furthermore the Ministry admitted “its application requires land and asset valuation surveys to be completed across the entire island.”

The details of the announcement made by Cyprus Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis at the turn of the year now seem to be dripping out slowly, slowly in the spirit of the Cypriot maxim “sigar sigar”.

There are now reports on the internet that the Cyprus Government has stepped in to now assure Cyprus property owners, both those resident in Cyprus and Cyprus holiday home owners that the new Immovable Property Tax, calculated at 2010 and not 1980 values, will only kick in at € one million.

The front page of the  Cyprus Weekly On Line for 31 December 2009 carries the headline “Tax Assault” referring to the Cyprus Budget announcement of a range of fiscal measures to deal with a deficit of euro 500 million.

Initially property analysts had interpreted the Minister’s original descriptive announcement where he said ” this package will introduce higher tax on property property other than a home by adjusting valuations on real estate unchanged for 30 years” as meaning that there would be no new Cyprus property tax on ANY home owners.

The Cyprus Central Bank, has announced that property prices have decreased during the year 2009 by 8%, whereas his predictions for 2010 is that prices will keep steady.

According to its six-month bulletin, the price of the housing properties will record an annual decrease of 8% in 2009 compared to 13% in 2008. “The anticipated drop in the housing property prices coincides with the weakening of the construction activity in 2009”, it said.

According to Stockwatch, Cyprus “Real estate agents and developers expressed their expectations that property prices have sunk to the bottom and stressed that the combination of the drop in lending rates and the offer of new properties will contribute to a price stabilization.”

The Cyprus Informer welcomes comments and input on its articles and in this case it caused our Editor some concern for the paper’s readers with investment properties and homes in Cyprus. 

“Cyprus Repossessions, with regard to an article [in your paper] ‘Government Will Have to Write Off Debts’, this will not happen! Banks in Cyprus have been told to collect by any means possible, any outstanding Loans. If you fall 2-3 months arrears on your Mortgage! the Bank can terminate your mortgage/loan, without Court action! Lawyers! Just a letter giving you 7 days to pay, then they add up to 10% on top of the original interest, say 15-16-17 % total, on the full amount of the original loan! If you own property overseas, they [the Cyprus Banks] will come after their losses through UK Courts. PS these are Facts!”

An article in the respected Cyprus Mail sent shock waves running throughout the island of Cyprus with tremors that extended all the way to investors in Britain and the USA as the Cyprus Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis yesterday unveiled tax changes.

The values of land in 2010 are 20 times higher than those of 2008 and this means that the Cypriot citizen that currently pays a tax on real estate of €1 thousand, next year he will be called to pay €20 thousand”, said Mr. Averof Neophytou, the Vice President of DISY according to Stockwatch, Cyprus. [We think he meant 1980 rather than 2008 and even then the figures look wrong, Ed.]

Places where smoking is banned as of January 1, 2010.

These include: cinemas; theatres; hospitals – including rural sanitary centres – open-air infirmaries and old peoples’ homes; pharmacies, clinics, doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries; museums; galleries, concert halls and cultural centres; public libraries; factories; training and educational centres such as universities, colleges, schools; lifts, stairwells and ‘common areas’ of public buildings; covered athletic centres; governmental or semi-governmental service buildings; banks; ports and airports; event areas for adults; shopping centres, kiosks; reception rooms; recreational areas including hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, bars, coffee shops, clubhouses, cafés, internet cafés, pool halls, gaming arcades, betting shops, cabarets, discos, nightclubs and dance centres.