Why the asking price is not evidence of value

An asking price is a position, not a measurement. It is set by a seller who wants the highest figure the market will bear, often with advice from an agent whose fee moves with it, and it is tested only when somebody agrees to pay.

Market value is arrived at the other way round: from recorded transactions, adjusted for size, floor, aspect, condition, age, planning position and date of sale. If the only number you hold is the one you were given, every conversation about price starts from the seller's ground.

What a valuation before the contract changes

This is advice taken while you can still act on it. It does three things:

It gives your negotiation something to stand on. An offer supported by dated comparable evidence is a different conversation from one that is simply lower, and a position you can hold when told another buyer is interested.
It lets you plan the money. Deposit, transfer fees, and the cost of putting right whatever the inspection turns up. A gap between price and value is far cheaper to find before you sign.
It tells you when to walk away. Some properties are priced fairly; some carry a title, permit or access problem costing more to resolve than the discount on offer.

One point worth being clear about. If you are borrowing, the bank instructs its own valuer from its own panel, and that report goes on the bank's file for the bank's decision. The two do different jobs: the bank's answers its question about its security; ours answers yours about whether to buy, and at what price. Having your own figure first means the lender's number, whenever it lands, is not a surprise. The lender's process is set out on our page about valuations for a bank loan.

What the title actually says

More Cyprus purchases go wrong on title than on price. You need to know which of these you are buying:

A separate title deed. The unit is registered in its own right and can be transferred to you on completion.
An interest under a contract of sale. No separate title has issued. What you acquire is a contractual right, protected by depositing the contract with the Land Registry, against a title still held by the developer or the parent parcel. Common, and not automatically a problem, but it changes your risk and what the property is worth today.
An undivided share. A fraction of a larger parcel rather than a defined unit — frequent with older houses, plots and family divisions. Occupation may be settled between co-owners, but that is not a legal division, and it affects value.

The register also records what is written against the property: mortgages, charges, memos and other encumbrances, and any prohibition on transfer. These attach to the property, not the seller, and must be dealt with before a clean transfer. We report what that means for value; clearing it is your lawyer's work.

Permits, final approval and unauthorised works

The second recurring problem is the gap between what is built and what was permitted. We compare the approved drawings against what is there: footprint and covered areas, enclosed verandas, roof terraces turned into rooms, basements converted to living space, later extensions and outbuildings, and the storeys and units against the permit.

Two things follow. Where a certificate of final approval has not issued, you should know why before you commit, because it normally sits on the path to separate title. And where works were done without permission, the question is not only whether they can be regularised but at what cost and whether it is achievable at all within the zone's coverage, building factor and height limits. Some unauthorised works are a fee and a delay. Some cannot be legalised and must come down.

Access, shared driveways and road widening

Access is a value question as much as a legal one. A house reached over a neighbour's land, a shared driveway, an unregistered track, or a right of way that exists in practice but not on the plan all affect what a future buyer will pay.

The item buyers rarely ask about is the planning line. Road widening schemes and other planning lines can cut across a plot, sterilising part of it for building purposes — sometimes the strip where the building stands. We check the plot against the applicable planning position and report the effect on value. On land purchases this is often the largest single factor; see our land valuation page.

Buying off-plan or under construction

Where the property does not yet exist, or only partly, the valuation must say what it is valuing. We report on two bases:

As is. The value of what stands on the ground at the date of inspection — land, plus whatever has been built, in its current state.
As if complete. The value the finished unit would have, on the stated special assumption that it is built out in accordance with the approved drawings and the agreed specification.

The first tells you what you would hold if construction stopped; the second what you are contracting to buy. Its assumptions are stated explicitly, because they are what fails — a specification quietly downgraded, a date that slips, a common area never built. Payment stages are best read against the first figure.

What we need, and when to start

To begin we need the address and, so far as you have them, the registration or parcel details. These shorten the work:

title deed, or the contract of sale where no separate title has issued;
cadastral and site plans;
planning permit, building permit and approved drawings;
certificate of final approval, if issued;
the draft contract, the price and the payment schedule;
for a unit in a development, the division permit and share allocation.

On timing: the advice is worth most before you sign, and before any part of your deposit becomes non-refundable. Reservation agreements often take money on terms that make withdrawal expensive, so tell us at the outset what you have signed and what the deadlines are. The fee is agreed in writing before any work begins — see what a valuation costs. For the general position on either side of a transaction, see valuations for buyers and sellers.

What a valuation is not

Scope matters as much as findings, so you know what you remain exposed to:

It is not a structural survey. We report defects and conditions bearing on value, but we do not open up construction, test services or carry out an engineer's assessment. Where what we see warrants one, we say so.
It is not a substitute for a legal title search. We report the title and encumbrance position as it appears from the information available to us, for valuation purposes only.
It does not replace your lawyer. You need independent legal representation of your own — not the seller's lawyer, not one introduced by the developer — to review the contract and protect your position on completion.

What it does give you is an evidenced opinion of value prepared to RICS Valuation — Global Standards, stating the basis of value, the valuation date, the extent of the inspection, the comparables relied on and every assumption made, signed by the valuer who inspected.

Instructing us

Michael Efstathiou BSc(Hons), MRICS has valued property in Cyprus since 2012. He is registered with ETEK, the legal precondition to valuing property here, and works to RICS Valuation — Global Standards, December 2024 edition, effective 31 January 2025.

Send the address and title or parcel details, tell us what you have signed and by when you need the report, and we will confirm the fee and terms in writing — or use the contact page.

[email protected] · +357 25254222 · mobile +357 96569477