FOREIGNERS OPT FOR BUYING PROPERTY IN TURKEY
Turkey made 5 billion dollars by selling property to foreigners last year, and expects to double that amount this year. Prof. Dr. Hakan Yetkiner, Lecturer, Department of Economics, Izmir University of Economics, reported that Turkey got rid of its fears on selling property to foreign nationals lately, and liberalized the markets through regulations that came into effect on various dates.
Based on the data by Turkish Statistical Institute (TSI), 22 thousand 830 houses were sold to foreigners in 2015 and more than half of those sales were made to the citizens of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, and England. Prof. Dr. Yetkiner, who commented about TSI data said, “Turkey sold 12 thousand 181 houses to foreigners in 2013, 18 thousand 959 in 2014, and 22 thousand 830 houses last year. Fortune is the sum of savings of a consumer. And property makes up an important share of the consumer’s fortune. One of the latest trends, in a globalizing world where the gross household income is constantly increasing, is the demand to own a property in different parts of the world.”
‘Tourism cities are popular’
Prof. Dr. Yetkiner stated that the foreigners preferred purchasing property in tourism centers such as Antalya, Muğla, Aydın, and Istanbul the most. He said, “In house sales to foreigners, Istanbul was the first province with 7 thousand 493 sales in 2015. Antalya was the second province with 6 thousand 72 sales followed by Bursa with 1 thousand 501 sales. In 2014 Antalya ranked first with 6 thousand 542 sales, Istanbul ranked second with 5 thousand 580 sales, and Aydın ranked third with one thousand 191 sales. However, Izmir, which ranked the eighth province the foreigners purchased property the most in 2013, did not make the top 10 in 2014 and 2015.”
‘Izmir needs to make a move’
Prof. Dr. Yetkiner said that the average price of houses sold to foreigners were about 220 thousand dollars some of which were considered luxury housing. Yetkiner stated the following:
“Turkey expects to increase the income from selling property to foreign nationals to 10 billion dollars in 2016. There is no indicator that Izmir, which underperformed in selling property to foreigners in 2015, will get a remarkable share in 2016 as well. Izmir needs to increase construction project portfolios in housing brand immediately and get busy with promotion campaigns in housing fairs. Otherwise, Izmir folks will continue to miss out on a very significant income.”
