Projects

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Why Turkey

The Turkish Property market offers greater investment opportunities

Turkey is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world and has been home to many ancient civilizations since 2000 BC. With a magnificent 8,000 kilometres of coastline and a population of more than 70 million mostly young, dynamic people, Turkey is listed as one of the best tourist destinations in the world - the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ranks Turkey in 7th place, 25.5 million tourists visited the country in 2009 (up from 8th place in 2008).

The Turkish property market, which offers ever-greater opportunities for investors every year, has come to prominence especially in the last decade, on the back of economic and political developments.

With a developing and very strong economy and a robust banking system, Turkey is one of the few countries which escaped the worst of the recent worldwide economic problems. It is expected that Turkey will soon be in the top 5 economies of Europe with significant increase in GDP and Foreign Investment.

The entry of global actors into the real estate market is increasing the competitiveness of the sector, while massive mergers and acquisitions taking place help its expansion and overall growth rates. Different surveys and publications such as the "Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe", prepared jointly by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the Urban Land Institute, show how global and local interest in the Turkish real estate sector has increased.

As Turkey progresses along the road to EU membership, the essential legislative reforms introduced have made investing in the real estate market even easier and more profitable. The amendments to the Land Registry Law, the Draft Mortgage Law and the redrafting of tax laws are also designed to improve the competitiveness of the Turkish real estate sector.

The real estate sector in Turkey also has great prospects thanks to demographic factors parallel to improving economic figures. According to Deloitte's research in January 2010 "the US and the European real estate markets have been significantly affected by the recent sub-prime crisis and the global economic recession". Based on a Knight Frank report in 2009, the supply of new space in the US is at the lowest level in the survey history. Also purchase mortgage originations which were almost US$1,500 billion in 2005 decreased to US$850 billion in 2008. The picture is similar in many European property markets. In addition, the IMF expects that GDP in the 'Euro zone' will have declined by 3.2% in 2009. As a result of the contraction, reduction in demand and downward trend in house prices have been observed all over Europe. On the other hand, the real estate market in emerging markets like Turkey is still promising although they also have been notably affected by the global crisis (please ask for the full Deloitte report)

Deloitte goes on to say "the sub-prime crisis which intensified in the US in September 2008 quickly spread globally. Turkey has also been negatively affected, however the number of apartment units sold in the second quarter of 2009 increased by 72% compared to the same period of 2008. Considering the recent development in sales and regarding the growth potential of the sector, it can be expected that the Turkish property market will enter another improvement phase after the full recovery of the economy."