Majority of land sold in north sold to foreigners has Greek Cypriot title deeds

Most of the property being sold to foreigners in the north is on Greek Cypriot land, reports said on Wednesday, citing data released at the end of July.

According to Yeni Bakis, at the end of July 4,209 properties were listed for sale, out of which only 975 had a Turkish Cypriot title deed, while the rest were Greek Cypriot properties.

“When you look at the data on the market, it appears that every part of the country [the north] is for sale,” the newspaper reported.

“The current government, which thinks it will overcome the very bad economic conditions that exist in our country by selling properties, the majority of which remained from the Greek Cypriots, continues to support this dangerous course with decisions that it constantly takes in the cabinet [sessions].”

The figures show that the land put up for sale consisted of 2,677 plots and 1,532 fields [agricultural land] suitable for development or investment. A total 63.6 per cent plots of the land were for sale, while fields were at 36.4 per cent.

According to the data, 13.8 per cent (581 plots) are allotted plots, 11.79 per cent (498 plots) are registered as unspecified land title deeds and 1.6 per cent (64 plots) fall under the category of the other plots. When all this is added up it appears that 76.84 per cent of the properties for sale are plots of land that do not have a Turkish Cypriot title, the newspaper noted.

Most plots and fields for sale are in the area of Kyrenia (1,407 plots), followed by Trikomo with 1,169 plots for sale, Famagusta with 784, Nicosia with 726, Morphou with 55 and Lefka with 65.