Euro Entry

Thanks Anna - I imagine the Euro entry in Jan 08 should keep the marketing moving along nicely for a year or so.

At least, it will make it easier for Irish retirees and other north Europeans.

This certainly was the effect of the Euro adoption on Spain - the years following the Euro continued to expand the holiday market.

However, the fly in the ointment for Cyprus is that it's largest market - UK - will find it harder to raise the Euros now that the pound has softened against the new Cypriot currency.

Still, I think the medium term effects of Euro entry will be good.

However, do you think that Cyprus (holiday market at least - not Nicosia) will continue to suffer from difficult exit strategies?

ie. It will continue to be much harder to sell holiday property than city based property?

Cheers
Neil

Hi Anna,

you make no mention of the "pump and dump" threat that was reported by PS last year.

Any update on that ?

Anna, I'm having problems with this article. I've been trying to sell my Santa Marina apartment for 18 months with not a sniff of interest. I can't sell it for £80k when I paid £65k for it so I have no idea where you get your 74% rate of increase from. In addition, having outlined the stats you go on to say that the market is saturated. These facts simply don't tally and the latter is certainly true.

The reality is that this investment has been a disaster and I'm beginning to think that I'll be lucky to get the same as I paid which would certainly categorise it as such.

The feedback from all the agents is that the market is dead and people are now sitting tight while they try to get used to the Euro. The current exchange rate won't help attract British buyers either.

I assume you made an unintentional error in your conclusion when you said it's a sellers market. It absolutely isn't. Disappointingly article I'm afraid. I just hope the valuations on other PS investments aren't similarly inaccurate.
Huw

Huw, congratulations on such as restrained post.

I am wondering why there have not been many more angry responses to Anna's confused analysis.

I think it's because most PS investors came in later and missed this investment - lucky them! I would be interested in Anna's response. however.

Huw

Unfortunately I was also early ! saddled with 4 draining apartments now, you summed it up well.

Anna - unfortunately you seemed to have relied on figures, quoted by developers perhaps, to calculate the growth figures for the PS investments on the coast. Unfortunately these are completely wrong and the reality is that we are stuck with the apartments, unable to sell at even 20% higher than 3 years ago with very little chance of getting them rented either, meanwhile paying out each month for mortgages & service charges.

PS have done so well in finding so many good investments in other area's that I do not hold this 'mistake' against them too badly but I do get a bit pi**ed off if I am then told how great the capital growth has been on these disasterous investments !!

Anthony, Huw and others have said it all really.
I was flabergasted when I saw the growth in prices quoted in the article. It does not do any good whatsoever to the credibility of PS to publish such figures. If you use developers current list prices and factor in the fact that the Santa Marina apartments are generally larger then perhaps you can show some growth. But the reality is that you can only use prices that the market will stand for the particular units that we have bought. Any other data is extremly misleading and grossly inaccurate.
What we have in Cyprus is a re-sale market that is dead. The weakness of the pound is putting off most uk investors as is the tightening of the lending criteria imposed by the central bank. So, we have apartments that are difficult to rent, (at reasonable rents anyway), and no market for re-sales.
So, most of us are forced to hold or to sell at a loss.

Peter

Hi everyone

I sourced this information from our local partner in Cyprus and based on his figures Santa Marina has seen 74% growth. However, it is quite clear that this is simply not the experience of PS investors (I did not know this before I wrote the article based on the figures I was given).

I have since been back to our partner and he insists that the figures he gave me were transaction costs – however, he did say that agents are far more interested in selling units on behalf of developers than individuals as they get higher commissions (8-9% vs. 4-5%).

Whether or not this is true, as far as our clients are concerned the only figures that matter are those which you can achieve, we accept that.

We also believe the resale market on the coast to be temporarily dead (and the rental market weak) and I said that in the article.

Therefore, in this case the research conducted and data obtained is of little or no value to you, I admit that and we apologise.

As we have no letting and management or resale service in Cyprus it is also difficult to obtain data from anyone but our partner – who we haven’t had any dealings with in almost two years it has to be said.

This doesn’t apply to the data sourced in Poland, Romania and the Czech and Slovak Republics though. We continue to operate in those countries as Property Secrets AND i-PA and this allows us to source much more accurate data (with the usual caveats attached) in which you can have more faith.

Were the coastal deals we offered in Cyprus amongst our best – no, and I think we have to admit that. Palace Heights in Nicosia WAS a good deal I think, but perhaps we overestimated the Cyprus coastal market.

Finally, at the end of the article where I said it was a sellers market – I meant buyer’s market and that was a pure typo. I can only apologise for the confusion caused there. I have now changed that.

Cheers,

Anna

Hi Anna

Thanks for your reply.

Please inform your Cyprus partner that if he can sell my Santa Marina apartment for 74% more than I paid I will gladly give him 10% commission !! :-)

Me too! I'd gladly pay 10% even at the price I'm now trying to sell for!

Anna thanks for your honesty in correcting your original comments.
Huw