A wave of foreign investors is flooding North Cyprus, involving mostly Russians, Ukrainians, and Israelis but also Iranians, according to a Philenews report, further noting that Turkish land development companies remain overwhelmingly at the helm of this construction fever.
The vast majority of the plots bought and sold through fast-track procedures are Greek Cypriot-owned properties, with sale transactions over the past couple of years estimated at over 7 thousand, a new reality forging de facto situations on the ground, as Turkey is proceeding with almost daily on the status quo in the fenced off city of Famagusta.
Most of the 2,672 ‘licenses’ to acquire plots in the TRNC in 2022 were granted to Israeli citizens, as Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi writes, with 2 thousand companies in the TRNC controlled by Israeli shareholders.
25 thousand acres of land have been bought through these companies, to a great extent involving farmland in the Karpas peninsula.
The same Turkish Cypriot sources say that 2 thousand acres have also been bought in the Lefke area for development, while land and property sales are also up over the past year in the Kyrenia and Trikomo areas, with attention now focusing on Famagusta, with reports on the impending settlement of the fenced off city now peaking and converging.
Halkin Sesi notes that a new community has been created in Trikomo with apartment blocks, homes, and services, such as supermarkets and cafeterias. It has mostly been built on Greek-Cypriot-owned farmland and buyers are foreign citizens.
This large-scale work, dubbed ‘New Larnaca’ has been undertaken by Turkish land developers Noyanlar, founded in 1973, a year before the Partition.
The price of a small fully furnished apartment in the area is estimated at around 100 thousand euros.
Noyanlar, who now has offices in Famagusta was almost bought by Iranians recently, an aggressive attempt by the Tehran-based businessmen who bought apartments in Trikomo, but complained that they never received ‘title deeds’.
Russians, Israelis, and Iranians are now the top players in Cyprus investments, while the British community already settled there, is facing increasing Brexit complications.
In addition, following Western sanctions, Russians are turning towards the North for land development and are also expected to transfer deposits, as sanctions cannot be applied there.
The Russian oligarch’s activity is already under scrutiny by Washington and Brussels, while Cyprus put the issue of Israeli investors to Tel Aviv, during a meeting between South Cyprus President Christodoulides and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier this week.
