Cyprus property management - is your pool being cleaned?

Property Management

I received a call the other day from one of my staff in Cyprus who informed me that an investor's pool was in a terrible state and had clearly not been cleaned for some time. As many readers will know, not cleaning a pool has serious consequences for the mechanism and can lead to a significant financial outlay for repairs. Additionally, when you are paying a fee to a company or individual for a service, then you rightly expect a job to be done properly. Not in this case and the owner is fortunate that my staff member was walking past and we were able to inform him of the problem.As Warren Buffett says, "price is what you pay, value is what you get." This type of incident is not confined to Cyprus and happens the world over as some pool maintenance companies increase profits by not cleaning pools between visits........but you ultimately pay the price......twice! Once in the form of the monthly fee and then for the subsequent repairs when it all goes wrong. This is exactly why InvestinCyprus.com set up its own property management company.It is very important that when you buy property overseas, you investigate the post-sale support in terms of property management and lettings.I take property management very seriously, as do my staff, and commit to provide the best possible service to our clients. I also use my property management company to service my own private properties which was also a driver to set-up the company in the first place, as I did not have faith in some of the local property management set-ups.If you have property in Cyprus or any other country you need to keep a close eye on pool maintenance over the winter season or you may be faced with a hefty repairs bill in the Spring.

Cyprus economy to grow strongly by 3.6% in 2007

The Economy Intelligence Unit (EIU) maintained its CyprusGDP growth forecast at 3.6% and 3.8% for 2007 and 2008 respectively. The EIU says that with slowing demand in both the Euro area and the UK in 2007-08, tourism is likely to recover only slowly, and real GDP growth in Cyprus will continue to be driven largely by domestic demand. According to EIU the construction sector will be boosted bycivil engineering projects (upgrade of airports and highways) and demand for holiday homes. The construction of new marinas and golf courses could also begin in 2008. Furthermore, financial services should get an extra boost as the adoption of the Euro leads to a further fall of commercial lending rates and expands opportunities for outward investment. The British agency believes that government consumption growth will remain fairly buoyant in 2007-08 as the presidential election approaches. EIU sees the strict airline security alerts in the UK as the main risk to the Cyprus GDP growth forecast, as they might put off UK travelers, while cruise tourism will remain vulnerable to any bursts of violence in the region. Regarding inflation the EIU says that the risk that Cyprus willmiss its inflation target for adopting the Euro appears to bereceding, as inflation is beginning to ease. It also expects that the easing of international oil prices will lead to a fall of inflation rates in 2007-08. The EIU forecasts inflation (EU Harmonized CPI measure) at 2.0% for both 2007 and 2008.Regarding interest rates, the EIU says that the Central Bank of Cyprus will probably keep rates on hold, allowing the spread with the EU rates to fall to 75bps, given that ECB is expected to raise its rates by another 25bps in March 2007. This means that Cyprus rates will converge rapidly towardsECB rates after mid-2007 and as previous experience suggests this will happen in the last two months before the adoption of the Euro.The British agency observed that the Cyprus currency hasconsistently traded closed to, but stronger than the central parity rate and it expects that this is the rate which is going to be used when the irrevocable fixing of exchange rates takes place. This will imply a mild depreciation from the current rate. In 2007-2008 the Euro is forecast to strengthen against the sterling but weaken against the dollar in 2007, after appreciating strongly in 2007. EIU believes that government targets with regard to thebudget are broadly realistic and while the budget deficit is expected to increase in 2007, since it is a pre-election year, it expects the deficit to remain below 2.0% of GDP in 2007-08. While EIU expects the 2006 public debt/GDP ratio to exceed the 60% of GDP threshold, a large primary surplus will allow the ratio to fall compared with 2005 and therefore probably meet the requirement that it is falling rapidly enough towards that threshold. It also says that although the sharp increase in euro-denominated borrowing is indicating higher external debt forecast, Cyprus will continue to find easy access to finance. EIU forecasts a current account deficit of 5.6% of GDP in 2007, falling to 5.5% of GDP in 2008.

Source: Financial Mirror

Cyprus property market to boom in 2007 - Famagusta District to rise by 20%

Property in Cyprus is set to boom in 2007, with price rises of up to 15%.The island is among the established property markets, which will be the hotspots for 2007, while emerging destinations such as Bulgaria and Croatia are set to cool.Estate agent Evripides Lemonaris told The Cyprus Weekly that flats and houses will see increases of 10%-15%.“Land is set to see even higher increases this year, up to 20%-25% due to the prospect of the introduction of VAT on plots of land in 2008. Expected demand this year is set to put prices up,” Lemonaris said.Property expert and project manager Antonis Loizou, said that the property scene on the island is set to see a boom with an expected increase of up to 10% at least for most properties.According to Loizou, land and development projects in urban areas will see an increase of around 12% while areas near towns will go up 15%.
Nicosia office property, Loizou said, would see an increase of at least 20%, as a result of demand, and this goes for old and new buildings.each land is also set to see an increase of 20% and land near the sea front will go up, at least 15%, Loizou said.
The free Famagusta area, including Paralimni and Sotira villages, will increase by 20% and property in Larnaca 10%.Holiday homes in tourist areas across the island which are not near the sea front will go up 15% and land outside tourist zones will increase between 15%-20%, he told this newspaper.Loizou agreed with Lemonaris that plots of land would go up by at least 20% as a result of the changes in local planning provisions and the prospect of the introduction of VAT next year.The main reasons for the overall increase in the local property market this year was supply and demand, due to low interest rates (only 4%) in deposit accounts, foreign demand for property on the island and the change in the mentality of locals, who now prefer to buy property than live in rented accommodation.
Loan facilities

“The facilities given by banks, with up to 30 years for paying back, has made Cypriots to want to buy a home and sell it at a later stage for an even better one, rather than live in rented accommodation, “ Loizou said.
Source: Cyprus Weekly