New airport for Istanbul seen as a boost to buy to let property market

Istanbul’s western suburbs are set to be more in demand from buy to let property investors as Turkey’s largest airport is given the green light, it is claimed.

The Silivri district on the European side of the city will be the location of Istanbul’s third airport that will have capacity several times greater than the existing Istanbul Ataturk Airport nearby.

Ataturk International is currently the main gateway to Istanbul with nearly 30 million arrivals in 2009 and a 13% increase seen in the first four months of 2010.

While on the Asian side, the Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen airport, home to many of the budget airlines serving Istanbul including easyJet, has seen phenomenal growth in recent years rising from a mere 50,000 passengers in 2001 to more than five million in the first half of 2010 and over 11 million expected by the end of the year.

‘Turkey’s tourism levels as a whole in 2010 have been impressive with a 12% increase in UK visitors recorded in the first nine months taking the total number of international visitors to 23 million so far this year according to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism,’ said Steven Worboys, managing director of Turkish property experts, Experience International.

‘Istanbul has welcomed a large proportion of these visitors placing increased pressure on accommodation,’ he added.

In response to this demand, some 2,270-hotel rooms are planned to be built in Istanbul by western brands including Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Radisson Blu and Shangri-La according to hotel market analysis STR Global.

Also a number of buy to let residential developments are under construction, especially in the western districts such as Büyükçekmece that borders Silivri, home to the new airport.

One such development is Crystal Heights located in the Beylikdüzü suburb of Büyükçekmece, just 17 kilometres from Ataturk Airport. Already under construction, the modern luxury apartments have proved very popular with local Istanbul residents and international investors capitalising on the massive demand for accommodation in the city.

A new phase has just been released at Crystal Heights with one and two bedroom luxury apartments in the booming western suburbs available from £68,000 with a 2 year 7% protected rental guarantee and 70% finance available (subject to status).