We tell you what others don't...
Between 2005 and the spectacular collapse of the global economy in 2008, there was an explosion of property flipping schemes on the housing market of Cyprus. Investor cartels would buy entire apartment complexes off-plan with the help of short-term financing, and then resell them to individual buyers by the time they were built.
Indeed, during this time, the British mass-media was touting the Republic of Cyprus as a veritable investor's paradise, with tales of potential growth exceeding 20% per annum. Combined with the increasing number of large overseas property companies heavily advertising Cypriot holiday homes as the pinnacle of sun-soaked investments, this led to a veritable stampede of small investors releasing equity from their properties in the UK, and flocking to Cyprus in search of huge returns.
But it also led to artificial price increases on the Cypriot housing market, as the aforementioned overseas real estate giants would charge up to 15% commission to sell homes already bought through high-interest, short-term finance by property-flipping investment consortiums. This [at best] semi-ethical state of affairs continued unchecked until the global economy experienced a sudden cooling in 2008.
The stream of ready buyers heading to Cyprus for the perfect investments dried up practically overnight, as the British mass-media abounded with tales of financial woe, and the public tightened their belts and settled in for an extended economic downturn. Within weeks, the majority of large-scale overseas real estate companies in the UK went into receivership, and property-flipping investment co-operatives were left wondering exactly how they were going to repay their loans without anyone willing to buy their overpriced apartment and villa complexes.
The rest, as they say, is history, and property flipping on the Cypriot housing market is thankfully a thing of the past, despite the fact that the investor loan remains on offer, almost as a reminder of times gone by.
It's worth mentioning that Aphrodite was never part of any flipping schemes; nor were we ever one of the agencies charging extortionate commissions and thus artificially inflating real estate prices in Cyprus.
That's why we're still here, and others aren't. |
