Often referred to as the ‘new Spain’, it boasts a healthy tourism industry, cheaper house prices and rising demand for rental properties, all of which have contributed to its popularity.
It’s perhaps no surprise, therefore, that interest in Turkish property has surged in 2013. According to Knight Frank's latest global house price report, the average price of residential property in
Turkey has increased by 12.5 per cent in the past 12 months thanks primarily to overseas demand. The country has, in fact, outperformed the rest of Europe and comes sixth in the world in terms of property value growth, following Dubai, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia. Pretty impressive!
Istanbul property consultants, Universal21, say that Turkey's economic growth has actually exceeded expectations this year, and with unemployment low and the populations of cities like Istanbul having greater spending power, demand for property is likely to rise from domestic as well as overseas buyers. And unlike some of the other fast growing property markets like China, there is no sign yet that Turkey is overheating. Economic growth has proved to be sustainable and the Turkish economy is on track to reach 4 per cent annual growth by the end of this year.
For many buyers, Turkey is simply a more cost effective location at the moment but they’re also being drawn in by the potential for good capital growth. And things have got even easier recently due to the easing of property ownership laws.
In addition to relaxing its reciprocity laws in 2012, which opened the doors to foreign buyers outside Europe, the government has now amended its TAPU system. This is very similar to how title deeds work in the UK, and without this documentation, it’s extremely difficult to prove legal ownership.
Previously, foreign nationals buying property or land in Turkey have had to apply for military clearance, which ensures that the property or land is not located in a military zone. This process can take up to 10 weeks and has often deterred prospective buyers from going ahead with their purchase, as it can complicate other parts of the purchase process such as obtaining a mortgage. However, recent changes mean that it can now take as little as one day to obtain the title deeds, and under some circumstances, buyers won’t need to go through the process of getting military approval at all.
This is a very welcome development for the Turkish real estate market as it will now be much easier, and much quicker, for foreign nationals to purchase a property. Another string to its bow as such!
