By Hannah Walker
After several troubled decades Cyprus has recently got big on the property market. Just south of Famagusta – one of the towns at the heart of the Turkish invasion - the Mystical sands resort and spa is set to follow the North Cyprian trend and rocket in value pretty swiftly. This bodes well for holiday complexes and luxury resorts in other areas of North Cyprus, such as Paralimni and Bafra.
Famagusta has tall modern apartment blocks along a beautiful stretch of beachfront - miles of golden sand and turquoise water – one of the most acclaimed in the Mediterranean! A strong contrast from the deserted town of Varosha, abandoned by its Cyprian inhabitants when Turkey invaded in 1974, trees grown in the streets and wild dogs roam about, however developers believe that the success of resorts and towns like Famagusta, with its sudden increase in prosperity and popularity, will spread to other largely unexploited areas of the eastern coast and northern Cyprus.
Progress is visible everywhere, a new airport is to open in Larnaca 2010 and areas such as Paralimni - just south of the Famagusta border and boasting some of the best beaches in Cyprus - are not remaining undeveloped for long. Geraint Evans, director of the International property group is working with local developers Karma and jumping on the bandwagon to create a new development, figure-headed by former Liverpool FC hero Ian Rush. Evans spoke about how the popularity of certain resorts has influenced undeveloped areas like Paralimni.
‘There are no golf courses, spas or big name hotels… That is changing as the success of Aphrodite Hills, a five-star golf resort near Paphos, has started to have a knock-on effect on this coast, and Cyprus's first big marina (one of the biggest in the med) is being built in Ayia Theckla'.
This new Mystical Sands property development in Paralimni will have 345 two-bedroomed, furnished apartments starting from £199,950, set around a spa and possibly a football academy. The developments front man Ian Rush already owns three properties in the Algarve which have tripled in value in the last ten years and he is hoping this holiday home investment will do the same. The properties are expected to earn rental returns of six to eight percent a year and rise in value by ten to fifteen percent annually. However Evans believes most buyers will want to hang on to the properties as personal holiday homes, due to the charm of the area and all it has to offer ‘It resembles England thirty years ago, with low crime and strong family values'… and of course hotter weather!
Retired couples are also flocking to traditional agricultural villages near the sea, such as Avgorou near Famagusta, according to BuySell Real Estate, ‘there is a rise in demand among British buyers for resale properties in Cyprus'. There are also homes, business opportunities and whole new lives awaiting Britons who move to these areas. Gary and Sharon Connor, originally from Kent, moved to Paralimni and now run the Divers Unlimited Scuba centre. Their four-bed house has doubled in price in the time they've lived there. Gary Connor spoke about his hopes for the future of Cyprus,
‘There is much more development, with many hotels being brought by developers to turn into luxury apartments. A resolution to the Cyprus problem will increase tourism and open up avenues here'.
Bafra is a beautiful serene area in northern Cyprus; this too has been influenced by recent interest in Cyprus and is currently undergoing a huge development project by Whiterocks and Blue C, who are building luxurious holiday apartments set around stylish courtyards, with many other facilities set for the future. As Cyprus gains in popularity the house prices are rising. Watch these fast filling scenic spaces… this seems to be the new place for prudent property investments.
Hannah Walker is a writer for www.whiterocksbafra.com
Source:www.isnare.com |
