Cyprus is being bought, piece by piece

Yesterday, I went to view a property for sale. There was also an Israeli lawyer at the viewing, apparently a resident of Limassol for the past eight years. This morning (18 hours after the viewing) I rang up the owners to express my interest to buy, only to be told that the Israeli lawyer had already bought the house having given a down payment.

I remember the times when to buy any real estate in Cyprus required ministerial approval. This meant that in practice, the government ministers...