06/04/2009 06:57
“The economy and the property market will recover after 2010”, Chairman of Aristo Developers and Bank of Cyprus, Theodoros Aristodemou stated. In his statements to StockWatch, Mr. Aristodemou said that the activity in the sector fell by 80% in Paphos, pushing the price of houses but not that of plots.
“There is no doubt that prices have dropped. Because if we compare the price of the same markets in the products, we will see that they are offered in lower prices than those 1-2 years ago”, he noted.
The Chairman of Aristo, who hold his stake in 2007 against the sum of €170 million, believes that the number of unsold properties has reached 4-5 thousand and not higher than that.
Mr. Aristodemou expressed his grief for the conditions in the sector, especially for the thousands of employees who are currently out of work due to the crisis since nothing can be done before the recovery.
What went wrong? “What was miscalculated is that nobody expected such a big differentiation in the market in such short period of time. It is about a global economic crisis with unprecedented size. This means that developers in Cyprus could not predict its extent”, he stated.
On the question how banks will be affected after the allocation of €13 billion in new loans in 2008, Mr. Aristodemou was reassuring; “I believe that the banks in Cyprus were very careful in lending, especially in the sector of land development”, he stressed.
Mr. Aristodemou also said that the banks are not responsible for the market conditions, since the Central Bank was aware of their moves. “I don’t think that the banks are responsible for anything because they followed the CB instructions”, he noted.
Mr. Aristodemou, who is the major individual shareholder in BOCY, also talked about the bank’s share purchases. “This shows the confidence that I have in this Group”, he concluded.
“There is no doubt that prices have dropped. Because if we compare the price of the same markets in the products, we will see that they are offered in lower prices than those 1-2 years ago”, he noted.
The Chairman of Aristo, who hold his stake in 2007 against the sum of €170 million, believes that the number of unsold properties has reached 4-5 thousand and not higher than that.
Mr. Aristodemou expressed his grief for the conditions in the sector, especially for the thousands of employees who are currently out of work due to the crisis since nothing can be done before the recovery.
What went wrong? “What was miscalculated is that nobody expected such a big differentiation in the market in such short period of time. It is about a global economic crisis with unprecedented size. This means that developers in Cyprus could not predict its extent”, he stated.
On the question how banks will be affected after the allocation of €13 billion in new loans in 2008, Mr. Aristodemou was reassuring; “I believe that the banks in Cyprus were very careful in lending, especially in the sector of land development”, he stressed.
Mr. Aristodemou also said that the banks are not responsible for the market conditions, since the Central Bank was aware of their moves. “I don’t think that the banks are responsible for anything because they followed the CB instructions”, he noted.
Mr. Aristodemou, who is the major individual shareholder in BOCY, also talked about the bank’s share purchases. “This shows the confidence that I have in this Group”, he concluded.
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