Oceanwide Properties look ahead as to what we can expect from the Turkish real estate market in 2018. Has the Turkey property market bounced back from the countries turmoil of 2016? Has caution subsided and the foreign buyers returned?
Let’s take a look at the figures.
According to Turkish Statistical Institute, property sales in Turkey rose considerably in 2017 compared with the previous year, and sales to foreigners soared. Last month alone there was a 21.4 percent increase in foreign sales compared to November 2016.
Figures show that a total of 20,070 properties were sold to foreigners during the first 11 months of this year, a 21.3 percent increase on 2016. Iraqi’s bought the most, followed by Saudis, Kuwaitis, Russians and Afghans. The majority of sales were in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city in terms of population. Bursa also did well. In terms of the most popular coastal region, Antalya came up top with Mugla (Fethiye’s province) also fairing well.
An apprehensive start to 2017.
After an understandably apprehensive start to 2017, Oceanwide Properties can confidently say that we are entering 2018 with a spring in our step and expecting great things. Political events during 2016 did hit home with foreign tourist numbers and foreign property enquiries plummeting, it was undoubtedly a hard year for most industries relying on any foreign trade.
But, thankfully we enjoyed recovery in 2017. Although statistics show the country still has a way to go before attracting the tourist numbers enjoyed in 2014, stats do show tourist numbers increased by over 28 percent during the first 10 months of the year. Russians made the most significant comeback with over 4.5 million entering Turkey once the ban on charter flights was lifted.
Looking ahead, the government are running a wide variety of incentives to try and claw back the tourist trade lost over the last 2 years. Programmes promoting halal and health tourism are in place, tourism conferences and seminars are being attended, a diversification program exists trying to promote increased visitors from Asia, and the Middle East, and in China, it is ‘Turkey Tourism Year’.
Tour operators are on board with Thomas Cook already announcing increased bookings for summer 2018. Easy Jet has added increased flights to Dalaman, and Jet2 have increased their capacity by almost 100 percent. Turkey is being advertised heavily in the international press, media and online, so one would hope that 2018 should pan out nicely. And, with this resurgence in tourist trade and global confidence, comes investors.
So, what can we expect in terms of the local property market?
“The year ahead looks positive. We are expecting to see continued growth in domestic property sales here in Fethiye and along the coast. Fethiye has for many years been a popular investment choice with foreigners, the difference now is that the region is appealing to a broader investment base. Whereas traditionally our clients were British and European, we are now dealing with investors from far further afield. This year saw increased sales and enquiries from Russians, Arabs, the America’s, Korean’s, Iraqi’s and far more sales to local Turks and Turks relocating from elsewhere. Improvements in the local infrastructure, amenities and facilities are boosting opportunities and property prices are rising fast as a result. I envisage this growth to continue in 2018 – a property investment in Fethiye makes sense.”
Suleyman Akbay, Director of Oceanwide Properties.
Let’s hope that predictions for a prosperous new year do indeed pan out. We at Oceanwide Properties are certainly looking forward to 2018, see here what we have planned for the coming year.
In the meantime, we would like to wish all our readers, colleagues, clients and vendors, a healthy and happy new year and wish you all the very best for 2018.
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