As a whole, Turkey’s property market has been previously dominated by the necessities of providing cheap housing for a young and rapidly growing urban population.
However, shortly after the introduction of new government laws enabling foreigners to buy land in Turkey, the real estate market has rapidly attracted the interest of European buyers. These new laws and Turkey’s progress on adaptation to the E.U have made the proposition a lot more attractive. Although interest from overseas buyers and investors is currently focused almost exclusively in areas that lie along the Aegean and Mediterranean coast, the demand for holiday homes is fuelling an unprecedented building boom. As a result, property prices are rising rapidly.
This coupled with the KPCB annual report that now shows an internet population penetration of 49% for its 78.8Million residents, making it second only to the US which stands at 79% internet population penetration. Makes Turkey an attractive prospect for portals wishing to expand or partner with emerging markets that are no so emerging anymore.
Add to this the downgrade of Turkey to moderate threat level by the UN, which now places Turkey with other countries like: Mexico, India and China and Russia to name but a few.
Even though Turkey is in the early stages of a significant property boom, prices rose by an average 52% over the last 12 months in the coastal areas. Most indicators show that this is just the beginning and prices are expected to rise sharply over the next 5-10 years.
The growing numbers of overseas investors are buying property for the holiday session. As a result, the rental market is strong as more and more people are turning their backs on tour operators and large hotels in favour of organising their own holidays in their own space.
Rental yields are between 5-10% per annum, although returns are limited by the length of the holiday season and the market is still very small in overall terms.
A very good example of such growth is Kalkan on the Mediterranean coast. It’s a popular resort by UK holiday makers and has a large expatriate community. In some developments, prices have doubled over the past three years. Other areas such as Cesme on the Aegean Sea, have risen by 50% in a couple of years.
So the prospects for Turkey seems bright, and the opportunity for portals is even greater.
