New initiatives to boost Turkish property market
A number of positive initiatives could boost the popularity of the Turkish property market in 2010 including new flights, mortgages and currency deals.
One British developer has launched a 20 year interest free payment plan aimed at making it easier for real estate investors to buy in the country where mortgages for foreign buyers are difficult to obtain.
Developer Signature International is offering the plan for those buying at the Horizon Sky project in Bodrum. ‘Despite gradual progress mortgages are still very difficult to obtain in Turkey. Interest rates are high, terms restrictive, arrangement fees around 1.5% to 2% and some lenders even charge hundreds of pounds in upfront fees before they’ve approved your loan,’ said Daniel Dias.
‘This has left many buyers of Turkish property with no option but to take equity out of their main residence in the UK or risk losing their deposit. Our non-status interest free payment plan immediately eliminates any worries the client may have over buying at Horizon Sky,’ he explained.
‘As long as the buyer is able to pay a deposit then we’ll offer our special payment plan. After that it’s not too dissimilar from a mortgage. If they fail to keep up the monthly instalments then the purchaser risks losing their property,’ he added.
Horizon Sky has several payment plans on offer. The most popular is the 20 year interest free plan which can be accessed with a £1,000 reservation fee and a 35% deposit in staggered payments over the build period of around 18 months.
Other plans are available including a zero deposit zero interest five year term with monthly payments of £1,500 for an entry level home.
For those buying to rent the latest figures from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows that its popularity is not dwindling. Over 24 million tourists visited Turkey in January to October 2009, an increase of 1.96% on the same period last year. The number of British visitors grew to 2.3 million, an increase of 9.5%.
A key draw for British buyers and holidaymakers is that Turkey sits outside of the Euro zone and with the pound currently so weak against the Euro, this is a great benefit to those looking to make their money stretch further.
There are also a number of new flights to the country. Budget carrier Pegasus Airlines recently announced several new flights for 2010, with the company set to run 17 routes between Turkey and the UK, including London to Istanbul, Bodrum and Dalian and Manchester to Antalya and Dalian.
Turkish holiday specialists Holidays 4U is to provide extra flights from Durham Airport in the summer of 2010 and Easy Jet is expected to extend their current May to October route from Gatwick to a year round service.