Fewer buyers, more homes in property market

ISTANBUL

There are fewer potential buyers, but more houses are available in the property market yet demand for rentals remains strong.

There are several factors which keep people away from the housing market, such as problems with accessing loans and the cap imposed on rent hike. Moreover, higher interest rates offered for bank deposits make homes a less attractive investment option.

Since gains from the interest rate from bank deposits are now higher than rental income, people do not want to invest their money into homes. All these factors combined means weak demand for residential properties and poor sales.

A home in the market would be sold on average in 60 days in September 2022. In September this year it was 86 days. In Istanbul, it took 91 days to sell a house, up from 61 days. Meanwhile the number of ads for the existing homes for sale rose by 12 percent from a year ago.

But the picture is different in the rental home market. The average listing time for rentals is only 53 days, according to Görkem Ögüt, the general manager of Endeksa, which collects data on the property market.

There were more rentals available in September, because landlords waited for the school season to start to put their homes on the market, he said. “The numbers show that they find a tenant easier than homeowners find a buyer.”

House prices increased by 109 percent year-on-year in Türkiye as of the end of the third quarter to exceed 23,000 Turkish Liras ($813) per square meter on average, according to data from Endeksa.

In Istanbul, prices grew 93 percent to 34,856 liras/square meter.

Rental prices leaped 136 percent in September from a year ago.

The average rental price was 125 liras/square meter on average in the country, while it was 175 liras in Istanbul.