“The corona pandemic slowed the entire real estate market,” says Itzik Dahan, CEO and owner of Casa Capital. Casa Capital is an entrepreneurial firm that is active primarily in Europe in the field of income-producing real estate, hotels, and residences.
Fortunately for Dahan and his firm, Casa Capital weathered the crisis and exceeded their sales goals over the two-year period. While the Israeli real estate market grew and prospered in the past two and a half years, the story in Europe was different. “I anticipated that the real estate market in Europe would suffer during corona because Europeans are more conservative than Israelis and take fewer risks. Therefore, I created a suitable infrastructure for European property sales to Israelis over this two-year period.” Throughout the corona period, Casa Capital has continued to preserve its assets and infrastructure that it has maintained in Germany, Spain, and Portugal. “During corona, we actually worked on two existing branches of our projects, as well as the development of the infrastructure and the new real estate market in Greek Cyprus,” says Dahan.
Due to the crisis, Dahan explains, he had to look for inexpensive alternative and attractive markets. Dahan hit upon nearby Cyprus – less than 500 kilometers away – as an ideal location for real estate investment for Israelis. Dahan has high hopes for real estate sales in Cyprus. “Cyprus has become very sought after by Israelis due to the low prices, excellent weather, tourist destinations, and the many options that are available there,” he points out. Cyprus is a short, 40-minute flight from Israel – closer than Eilat – and its proximity enables prospective purchasers to view and visit properties easily. But it is more than just proximity, he adds, that makes Cyprus a special place for Israelis. “The Cypriot people are warm and welcoming, the food is similar to Israeli cuisine, and the music is very familiar to Israelis due to the fact that Israeli artists have renewed and popularized original Greek songs.” Dahan points out that the entry of Cyprus into the European Union in 2004 has led to extensive development throughout the island and has had a positive impact on the real estate market there.
“We have been able to join with a local company that has the infrastructure to build large-scale and special projects,” says Dahan. The local company with which Casa Capital is collaborating controls some 40 percent of the real estate market. “Together with our joint capabilities, we will be able to develop projects that will be the focus of our activity for the next three years, through 2025. We are hoping to change the face of the residential and business real estate market in Cyprus over the next period of time,” he says.
Some Israelis buy in Cyprus for investment purposes, he says, while others use their property on the island as vacation homes. Prices are relatively low, says Dahan, and there is no purchase tax on properties purchased in the country.
Dahan adds that Larnaca is undergoing a great deal of development, including the construction of a new Congress Center and a massive world cultural center, which will be one of the most significant projects in the country. Dahan is also marketing a project in Pyla, a unique village near Larnaca and one of the oldest in Cyprus. Pyla also is the home of the overseas campus of UCLan, the University of Central Lancashire. Tourism is one of Cyprus’ most vital economic sectors, and the number of tourists that visit Cyprus is expected to increase from 4.5 million annually to 10 million in just five years, reports Dahan. “The prices will be going up soon, and now is the time to invest in Cyprus and also to tour the area.”
In addition to Cyprus, Dahan says that Germany has developed dramatically as an attractive site for real estate purchases over the past year. “We have been active in the eastern part of Germany for several years, and we have enjoyed the stability of the German economy,” he explains. “This gave us confidence during corona, and we were able to continue to stabilize the rest of our activities in countries where there was a lack of clarity, such as Spain, Italy, and Portugal.”
Dahan decided to maintain the company’s properties in Germany until the situation stabilized. As a result, he says, Casa Capital was able to purchase dozens of new buildings that have provided an additional source of income that it can use to develop projects in other countries.
Casa Capital also sells and rents properties in a number of other countries, including Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Zanzibar, and Italy. Dahan, who deals exclusively with real estate properties outside Israel, expects that more Israelis will turn to European markets to purchase real estate in 2022, especially in Cyprus and Greece. He explains that Israelis prefer to buy property outside of Israel because of the purchase tax levied on real estate in Israel and, overall, due to the lower price of real estate in other countries. “At the price that one would spend for an apartment in Israel,” declares Dahan, “one can buy three or four, or even ten apartments outside Israel, depending on the specific country and the location.”
Casa Capital, like many other companies, turned to Zoom during the most challenging periods of the corona crisis, holding virtual meetings with investors. “We held fewer in-office meetings than in a regular year,” says Dahan. Once flights resumed and the skies opened, Dahan and his team were able to be present at their properties in Europe. He notes that many people viewed and purchased property via Zoom in the past two years, adding that virtual purchases will develop as time goes on. “It is easier and more accessible,” he says.
Itzik Dahan views Spain, Germany, and Cyprus as his strongest areas of real estate sales and is particularly bullish on the latter two countries – Germany for its overall stability and Cyprus for its potential and proximity to Israeli purchasers. He collaborates extensively with other firms and developers in the various countries in which his company operates. Working with local companies is advantageous in these difficult times, he explains. “The Corona period has further sharpened the advantage of local partners who are accessible to projects even during the period when the skies are closed.”
He is bullish on his company’s prospects for 2022. “I believe that in the second half of 2022, the change will occur, and everything will open almost fully. At that point, we will be able to decide how to best optimize our assets in all the countries that we operate. In addition, we are considering the entry of strategic partners to join with us, and together increase the company’s activities.”
While real estate is his primary concern, Casa Capital is dedicated to supporting the community at large. The firm supports the field of Israeli dance and increasing awareness of the roots of folk dance that helps to tell the story of the establishment of the State of Israel. “We are also very active with organizations that provide assistance to children on the autistic continuum and contribute a great deal to the cause,” notes Dahan. “We believe that by contributing to the community, we receive back in kind from our customers who are full partners in all of our endeavors. Our customers are part of a large family that is growing every day.”
The MAZOTOS Residential and Vacation Project in Cyprus. Architect: Moshe Katz
This article is taken from The Jerusalem Post Annual Executive Magazine 2021-2022. To read the entire magazine, click here
This article was written in cooperation with Casa Capital