The wave of Russian “migrants” in Turkey was marked in the beach country by mass purchase of real estate. Turkish Statistical Office (TÜIK) has published statistics on sales from the beginning of the year to October 2022: Russians took first place on home purchases, they bought 2.23 thousand houses.
According to a review conducted by TÜIK, sales of homes to foreigners increased by 26.9% over the first 10 months of 2022 compared with the same period last year and amounted to 55,021 units. The Russians were the most active in the purchase of Turkish real estate, they took first place in terms of volume of purchases. In second place – Iran (498 homes), in third place – Iraq (310 homes), the fourth – Ukraine (216 homes), crowned the five leading Germany (211 homes).
The most popular among foreigners was the Mediterranean province of Antalya (2,123 sold homes). Of the 6.323 homes for sale there, every third home was purchased by a foreigner. Antalya was followed by Istanbul (1.658 units) and Mersin (490). Thus, the share of sales to foreigners in total sales was 33.57%.
Dynamics of demand
January was the calmest month for shopping Russians. At that time they purchased only 479 dwelling units. In February – 509. A sharp upsurge in purchases occurred after the conflict in Ukraine. Sales jumped to 547 in March, 1.152 in April, 1.275 in May and 1.887 in June. There was a slight dip in July with 1.028 homes sold, 1.238 in August and 1.196 in September. There was an explosion in demand in October.
Price Increase.
The boom in foreign demand for housing has sharply increased the prices of Turkish real estate. This situation was reflected in the Bahcesehir University Center for Economic and Social Research (BETAM) report on the outlook for the housing market for sale in October.
The provinces with the fastest increase in prices per square meter of housing were the following three:
1. Mediterranean city of Mersin (231.2%).
2. Antalya (223.5%)
3. The cultural capital of Istanbul (218.1%)For comparison: the average price per square meter in the resort province of Antalya, which is popular among Russians, in October last year was about 18 thousand rubles, while this year it has increased by more than three times and reached the figure of 58 thousand rubles. In other words, the average price of 100-meter apartments is 5.58 million rubles.
Buying a home in exchange for Turkish citizenship
In accordance with the rules adopted in recent years, foreigners were allowed to claim Turkish citizenship by buying housing above a certain value. In June, the value of the real estate to be considered when applying for Turkish citizenship increased from $250,000 to $400,000 (from $15 million to $24.2 million). Experts linked the tightening of conditions with the need to regulate newcomers and high inflation.
Depreciation of Turkish lira and the practice of granting citizenship to foreigners in exchange for the purchase of real estate increases the number of foreigners buying property in Turkey and also affect the growth of prices in Turkey. Despite the fact that foreign demand is known to increase property prices in Turkey, and this makes it difficult for Turkish citizens to access housing, locals state that the government continues to encourage foreign purchases, which is extremely unhappy.
