Island of Aphrodite lures Russian investors
St. Petersburg times have reported that Business City Guyot, a company in St. Petersburg that operates the four-star boutique hotel Guyot in collaboration with Leptos Group, the largest construction company in Cyprus and the General Consulate of Cyprus, will sell residential real estate in Cyprus.
Valery Zizenberg, president of Guyot has said that recently they have signed an agreement with Leptos Estates and also with the Bank of Cyprus and a Russian bank. He praised the high-class housing and variety of property on sale in Cyprus, including villas, apartments and townhouses.
George Gabrielides, director of Leptos Calypso Hotels, said that Prices for real estate in Cyprus are comparable to prices in St. Petersburg. He added that Price for apartments start from $150,000 and for villas from $250,000. Cyprus offers good value for money, as houses and apartments tended to be cheaper than those in other European countries.
Mr. Gabrielides said that interest rates in Cyprus depend on the type of currency; anyhow the figure is rather low from 3.5 percent to five percent a year. He noted that nearly 200,000 Russians visit Cyprus every year. There are two Russian schools and three Russian newspapers in Cyprus.
Polina Yakovlyeva, the head of Elite Real Estate at Knight Frank St. Petersburg has said that the EU accession and rising property prices in Cyprus had attracted the attention of Russian investors. She said that Cyprus is the only island where fifty percent of property-owners are Russian and that is due to low taxes and low market risk.
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