Real estate market in Turkey is reviving and prices are rising

Real estate experts spoke to "Turkey News Agency":   The real estate market in Turkey is booming and prices are rising       Despite the negative impact of the "Corona" pandemic and its catastrophic repercussions on huge economic sectors around the world, the real estate investment sector in Turkey is in a completely opposite orbit, to the extent that experts' expectations confirm that it is heading towards a period of promising prosperity.   According to what was reported by Turkish media, except in August 2021, economic reports indicated that real estate prices in Turkey will gradually rise to more than 50%, after a period of stability witnessed since 2018, coinciding with the rise in construction costs.   This comes amid a high demand in the real estate market in Turkey from those wishing to invest in real estate, or   Turkish citizenship.   In an interview with "Turkey News Agency", businessman Abdul Aziz Al-Kashef said that "Arab real estate investments have an important and effective role in the growth of the Turkish economy in general."   He continued, "Turkey is witnessing a great demand from foreigners and Arab communities, especially to buy and invest in real estate, because of its many advantages."   Al-Kashef regretted that “there are some Arab investors who do not finish the construction of their projects, which causes a lack of confidence on the part of those wishing to buy and the Turkish society in general.”   He added, "But besides that, Arab investments in particular have begun in recent years to achieve great successes, in addition to their contribution to raising the economy, which made the Turkish government pay great attention to the real estate investment sector."   In answer to a question: Did the increasing demand from the Arab communities raise real estate prices?   Al-Kashef replied, “Sort of yes, but the inflation taking place in the country, and the rise and fall of interest, also play a role in the rise in prices.”   Al-Kashef expected "a rise in real estate prices in Turkey in the coming period," advising "to seize the opportunity and buy before the high prices."   For his part, certified consultant Ahmed Ajam, director of the real estate department at Elite Group Real Estate, confirmed that "the real estate market in Turkey is in a great and continuous economic rise, as it witnessed a very big recovery due to the great demand for purchase from Arabs and foreigners of different nationalities."   Ajam revealed that “many investors doubled their money from 2019 to 2021, so that the profit difference exceeded 100%.”   He said, "On the other hand, some few investors did not benefit from this rise due to their wrong choice of location and the result of the currency difference."   On the role of the Turkish authorities in this field, Ajam explained that "the real estate market is on the verge of prosperous days much more than these days, thanks to the government, which is setting up promising projects such as metro lines, parks, universities, hospitals and other high-end projects."   He explained that "the market is currently going through a period of high demand and low supply, which is completely different from the previous one, when supply was greater than demand."   Ajam wished to “Turkey News Agency” to convey the voice of the licensed real estate companies, as he complained that “the real estate market suffers greatly from unknown and untrustworthy people, whose only concern is to sell the client in a stupid way, which makes the investor fear all companies.”   He pointed out that "many customers have fallen victim to these unknowns," calling for "the development of censorship on social media pages, in order to hold accountable everyone who works in this field without having an official license from the state."   In this context, representatives of the real estate sector in Turkey explained that sales figures in the real estate market set a historical record last year, with 1,499,316 homes sold throughout the country, despite the “Corona” conditions.   They pointed out that the projects that will be held next year constitute the direct reason for the gradual increase in cost, explaining that the project-based companies will determine the prices according to the cost.   According to representatives of the real estate sector in Turkey, the boom in the Turkish real estate market was reflected in prices, which in turn encouraged investors to head to this profitable market, and consequently the percentage of investment requests increased, especially in the northwestern states of Turkey such as Istanbul, Bursa and Yalova.   In this context, Nazmi Dorbakim, head of the Istanbul Builders Association INDER, explained that “the real cost increase started since August 2018, but it was not reflected in prices due to market conditions, as the recent rise in building materials prices forced an increase in real estate prices.” .   In his statements, he stressed that "the prices will witness a gradual increase in new projects, as the cost per square meter of the house - without counting the price of the land - has reached four thousand pounds."   Dorbakim pointed out that "the price of a ton of iron reached 3,350 pounds in June of last year, and exceeded 5 thousand pounds in December, while it rose to 5,730 pounds in the first days of January."   Dorbakim added that the price of a cubic meter of C35 concrete rose from 195 pounds in June of last year to 255 pounds currently, and explained that the cement bag was purchased for 17 pounds in June, and 22 pounds in January.   For his part, the head of the Housing Developers and Investors Association, Altan Almas, said that “within 6 months, the price of a ton of steel increased from $500 to $750,” expecting that the prices of ready-made projects sold today will differ from the prices of projects that will be built again.   Almas explained that “the rate of increase varies from one region to another, depending on how it is affected by several factors such as supply, demand and interest.”   For its part, the Turkish Statistics Authority confirmed that real estate sales to foreigners in Turkey have achieved a continuous rise between the years 2013-2020.   And at the beginning of this year 2021, the authority announced an increase in real estate sales in Turkey by 12%, during the year 2020.