North Cyprus Property Prices Remain Level
Property in North Cyprus is becoming common as an investment for people in the EU, with many of those buyers coming from the UK. North Cyprus, which is outside the Eurozone, makes sense as a place to invest in property for Brits at the moment. The Euro, which South Cyprus has used as currency since it joined the EU, is strong against the pound at the moment, thanks in part to the economic whirlwind that the American sub-prime mortgage breakdown caused. So, at the moment, not many people are investing Pounds into Euros, as the relationship is currently favoured toward the Euro and also because the International Monetary Fund predicts that the Pound will bounce back against the euro within the next year, and then grow at a rate that outstrips it with another fifteen months or so. Property development in North Cyprus was kick-started partially in response to the South’s joining of the Euro, as many speculators did not see the current situation - where the North is outside of the EU and the Eurozone and the South is a member - as being feasibly coherent for the island’s future development. Cyprus was divided in 1974, due to a Turkish invasion of the island which secured the North as a refuge for Turkish Cypriots, and separated the majority Greek Cypriots to the south. In 2004 the atmosphere shifted somewhat thanks to the likelihood of EU membership for either the South or for a united Cyprus. The Annan Plan of 2004 provided a genuine opportunity for reunification prior-to EU ascension, and it too helped to boost property development in the north. The vote was decided via referendum, which was favoured in the North but rejected in the South.Even though the Annan Plan was stalled at the referendum stage the South’s ascension into the EU kicked land prices in the North sky high, as there is such an expectation of reunification in the future. Six years ago land prices in the North were around £2,000 per 1,338 sq metres (a donnum, the unit of land measurement used in the North), but have now risen to nearer £40,000; quite a return on a six year investment. Land and property prices are obviously tied, and many speculate that purchasing property in North Cyprus now, where house prices are roughly half of what they are in Spain and far cheaper than in the UK, is a wise investment. Turkey are looking to join the EU themselves, but in so doing a solution (that is, reunification) of Cyprus would most likely go ahead. Even if the North and South, somehow, remained divided both would most likely be part of the Eurozone, and prices would reflect that. At the moment prices in the North are remaining relatively flat, with a three bedroom house and pool still costing less than £90,000, around half of what it would for in the south and far less than in similar countries traditionally favoured by Brits as places to invest in property.
