60 second interview: Pierrick Prillot of Elea Estate

Thursday 16th February 2012

What does it say on your business card? Pierrick Prillot, real estate sales and marketing director of Elea Estate in Cyprus.

What is your business? The business development of the residential part of the resort. That includes:

1. Product definition: making sure the property are ready for sale. All documents needed for property acquisitions, including price definition, property specifications, property services, financial information, contractual documents and legal paperwork.

2. Outside project activities = Sourcing the clientele
Market the residences at Elea Estate: promotion, communication indirect distribution network and direct client sourcing.

3. Onsite activities = Convert visitors into buyers
Run the sales offices
Take advantages of the traffic onsite

How many people do you employ? Elea Estate employs about 40 people. The residential department consists of three people at present.

What about buying trends? There is a decrease in property sales of 20% and a price drop of 5% over year in 2011.

Cyprus has always been a destination on the radar of property buyers interested in residential tourism, although it represents a small slice of the southern European market with less than 5% of the transaction.

We have seen a decrease of buyers coming from the U.K. and an increase of interest from Russian speaking countries, followed by Scandinavian and German speaking countries.
30% of the property sold in Cyprus has been in the Pafos district (about 500) and about 35% of those properties have been acquired by foreigners.

Here at Elea Estate, we focus on the narrow market niche - the top end of the market. We are more interested in quality than quantity, understand that our clientele is really demanding and look for a base in Europe where “s.t.e.p.” indicators are positive against their business and personal profile.

Finally, we look with interest to the recent findings of offshore gas and oil reserves in Cyprus water territory (the 2nd biggest in Europe after Norway). That will certainly help developing the exclusive side of the real estate industry on the island.

How interested are you in property? I got started in the high end residential tourism industry 10 years ago when I worked for one of the largest Spanish developer (Med Group). I have gained expertise and thus experience by developing several residential resorts around the Spanish coast, defining the right products and financial packages for sourcing and matching our targeted audiences. I was lucky to experience the good years in early 2000 and also I am proud to endure the down turn. With Eliades Leisure, I am really pleased to continue providing a quality offering at Elea Estate to an ever demanding market under challenging conditions.