Turkey sees surge in overseas buyers after law change
Russian and British buyers are leading a surge in the property investment market in Turkey with more overseas buyers overall due to a change in the law. Foreign sales have grown remarkably since rules allowing foreign buyers were extended from 89 countries to 183, including Russia and the Middle East.
Figures from the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry show that in the last 12 months 14,599 foreign buyers have bought properties. The southern coastal province of Mersin was most popular with foreign buyers, followed by the Aegean side province of Izmir and Yalova province on the Marmara sea – Istanbul did not make the top 10.
The report said that Russians were the biggest buyers over the period with 2,313 properties followed by British buyers with 1,353 and Germans with 1,350 properties. Buyers from Norway, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia came next and a new airport is set to boost the attraction of property to foreign buyers.
The Turkish government has agreed on a $22 billion tender to build what is hoped will become one of the world’s biggest airports in Istanbul and other major infrastructure projects are also planned. This is good news for overseas buyers, according to property investment firm Colordarcy, which says that the spending shows there is a lot of confidence in the economy.
Quote from PropertyCommunity.com : “Foreigners are still not allowed to be owner in villages but incase you have “OZEL IMAR” for your land at that time foreigners are allowed to be owner. Ozel Imar is such a special building permit just only for your land. If you already have it than you can sell if not you can apply for this permit thorugh a map engineer.”
‘The Turkish government has taken spending on transport and infrastructure to a whole new level this year. I think this goes some way to strengthening the case for Istanbul as a property investment destination, particularly considering the growth in tourism that the new airport will bring,’ said Loxley McKenzie, Colordarcy managing director. ‘Much of the money is being raised inside Turkey, which suggests that the country is feeling confident enough in its long term future to encourage this type of investment,’ he explained.
Colordarcy analysts say that with airports comes demand for land and rising property prices. Airport’s gobble up the land around them as companies relocate to be closer and the surrounding areas get a mini economic boom of their own. India has provided a recent example of the good and bad of the airport effect. The price of property in Navi Mumbai, for example, increased at the mere announcement of plans to build an airport, rising 400% according to one report.
The firm says that the new airport will also mean that property in the suburbs of Istanbul will begin to become more attractive for property investors, particularly in areas in and around the Arnavutköy district on the European side of the city where the airport will be built. Work on the airport is set to begin in 2017 and McKenzie says this could help boost the price of property on the European side of Istanbul in the four years prior to construction. The European side has slipped behind the pace of growth on the Asian side of the city recently.