K. Onisiforou on real estate: We need to dream big for the future

Kritonas Onisiforou, Head of Sales at Altia, said Cyprus needs to “dream big” when deciding the next steps for its real estate industry’s future, starting with finding ways to diversify and boost its economy’s competitiveness.

Describing Cyprus as an investment destination, Onisiforou said it had a number of advantages, such as its EU membership, geographical position, young and educated workforce, and attractive tax system, during his speech at the 17th Real Estate & Construction Conference and Exhibition on Wednesday.

But he added, “Even though the aforementioned (advantages) are important ingredients for the growth of our economy and country, we cannot evolve competitively unless we have perhaps the most important ingredient of all: that is, to dream big about the future”.

“It will all depend on the priorities that we set and the planning that we make as a country and an economy. Our goal should be to find out how we can improve our competitiveness but also how to diversify our economy even further,” said Onisiforou.

For the dream to become a reality, he said, priorities need to be set, starting with the creation of proper infrastructure which in turn will attract more foreign investments. He highlighted the need for properties that are ready to sell or rent, and for more private schools, which by general admission at the conference and exhibition is one of the main obstacles preventing foreign employees from relocating to Cyprus.

Onisiforou also referred to the island’s low birth rate, which he said affected the country’s economy but was something that could be worked on. “We often hear concerns about Cyprus’ low birth rate and how this will impact on our property market in the long term,” he said. But as he pointed out, Hong Kong has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and yet it has one of the strongest real estate industries worldwide with the highest property prices. So he said, the answer is to attract high net worth individuals.

Meanwhile, Onisiforou said the geopolitical developments in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon and elsewhere have actually benefited the Cypriot real estate market, particularly by attracting a serious number of ICT companies, which in turn has increased the island’s potential of becoming a tech hub.

“Even though all the above are just a few of the very important ingredients required to grow our economy and country, we could never evolve competitively if we didn’t dream big for the future,” said Onisiforou.