I got the opportunity to fly out to the east Mediterranean island of Cyprus last week to meet with Rightmove advertisers, agents and developers. I returned from my trip with the feeling that buying a property on Cyprus seems to have very few drawbacks.

Rightmove Overseas is based in the UK, so it was a great chance to meet our customers in Cyprus and put myself in the shoes of a potential buyer. I questioned agents and developers as well as the expats living on the island and although it may be a strange statement in the current financial climate, I left feeling that the pros really outweigh the cons for buying.

At Rightmove Overseas we frequently look at buyer behaviour to make sure we provide the right kind of property search functionality. Buyers are segmented into three different categories: Holiday home buyers, Investors and people looking to emigrate. Here are my thoughts for each group from the trip :

The Holiday Home Buyer:

I think it’s worth pointing out the obvious here first; Cyprus is a small island with a good and easy, for the Brit, road network. Personally, I’m not the most confident driver in the world and driving in another country worries me, however, after only a couple of hours in Cyprus I was finding it easier to get about than in the UK with little signs of traffic, and of course driving on the left!

If you are buying a holiday home then you don’t have to limit yourself to visiting just a couple of resorts while you are there: from Protarus to Paphos takes 2 ½ hours and this is probably the longest drive you’ll ever likely make.

The majority of local people speak English and are warm and welcoming; they seemed to really enjoy spending time with me. The weather is fantastic, it was 19-20 degrees c when I was there and I almost forgot it was February. Being a holiday home buyer means you may want to use your property to generate a rental income while you’re not there. Tourism is still good in Cyprus with many people I spoke to going back year after year and wanting to try new resorts each time. One developer in Paphos I spoke to told me that he’d observed more tourists each year we had a poor summer in the UK, and the national statistics for tourism seem to back that up.

Investors:

As with many other markets, Cyprus is no longer a place where you can make a quick profit on property investment. However, if you’re looking for a long term investment then Cyprus, in my opinion, is a pretty good bet.

Although they are competitive with each other, the developers in Cyprus are all passionate about improving the island infrastructure and pull for tourism. In fact one of the developers told me when I questioned him about the development of the planned marina in Paphos “it doesn’t really matter if we get the contract to build it or another developer does, we would like to, but it will benefit all of us nevertheless”.

In fact, the Paphos marina development is one of 3 that are planned on the island over the next few years. Construction has already started and is progressing rapidly on the Limassol marina which I’m told was designed by a world renowned team of architects and engineers and is destined to become the most exclusive marina resort on the med.There is also a 1000 berth marina planned in Larnaca which will include several new hotels and berths for super-yachts.

Development of golf courses is also big in Cyprus at the moment; golf resorts already in full swing in the Paphos area are Aphrodite Hills, the Nick Faldo designed Elea Golf Club and the fantastic Minthis Hills in the Paphos Mountains. Venus Rock is set to become one of the largest luxury beachfront residential developments and includes two 18 hole competition golf courses designed by Tony Jacklin. On the East of the island in Larnaca, work has recently commenced on the Medgolf Larnaca Golf and Country Club Resort which promises to offer an 18 hole PGA Championship golf course.

All of the planned resorts and marinas will contribute towards making Cyprus a desirable location for the rich and famous and I did hear the saying “we will be the new Monaco” more than once from the developers and agents I spoke to. It will take time but a shrewd investment in the right location now could reap rewards in years to come.

Moving to Cyprus:

It’s no surprise that Cyprus already has a huge British expat community, as well as the benefits I talked about for the holiday home buyer, the standard of living is most certainly better and the cost cheaper. There are English speaking schools and Universities and a good health system, obviously the size of the country means there is quick access to medical centres.

As I mentioned before, developers are keen to improve and build new infrastructure but they are also keen to look after the people. The most impressive planned work I saw was that of Neapolis Eco City in Paphos which is astounding. It is going to be a city within a city and will create thousands of jobs for residents as well as boost medical and educational tourism. At a planned cost of €2 billion it’s likely to become the prototype for an eco-city within the EU. Neapolis will be built using new and innovative technologies aiming for Zero Carbon Emissions. It will take more than a few years before it is all complete but the vision is there for all to see.

There are many expat communities all over the island which I managed to see first-hand, in fact the first bar we walked into near Paralimni was full of resident Brits playing in the local pool league and it felt like an old village local in the UK, other than the fact half the people were wearing shorts!

If you’re looking to buy a property abroad as a holiday home, investment or to live then I would certainly suggest visiting Cyprus. Spend time talking with the locals, good agents and developers and I’m sure you’ll come away as impressed as I was.

Special thanks to Purple International, Leptos, Pafilia, Aristo, Fitzgerald Estates, Hardy Estates, Cyprus Luxury Properties and Maispa Developers.