Housing demand of Russians soars amid mobilization

Gülistan Alagöz-ISTANBUL

Demand from Russian nationals for houses in Türkiye has increased considerably after Moscow announced the mobilization of reservists for military action in Ukraine.

Russians have been investing heavily in Turkish properties in the past five months since the start of the war, but demand soared almost 40 percent within a week, people from the sector said.

Those who arrive in Türkiye first settle in hotels or rent a flat but later look to buy a house, they said, predicting that house sales to Russians will continue to increase.

“What we are seeing now appears to be a temporary migration. Russians mostly prefer resort destinations on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, chiefly the province of Antalya,” said Hakan Bucak, the board chair of Mars Investment.

Demand, which had weakened in the past month, started to pick up again due to the arrival of Russians, according to Ümit Becer, a real estate consultant in Antalya’s Alanya district.

“They are renting houses, and rents are on the rise again,” he said.

The rent for a three-bedroom apartment dropped to 8,000 Turkish Liras from 12,000 liras after demand weakened, he said. “Now, landlords have jack up the rents up to 10,000 liras amid the new influx of Russians and that happened within a space of just one week.”

From January to August this year, foreign nationals purchased a total of 45,000 houses in Türkiye, which marked a strong 45 percent increase from the same period of 2021, with Russians topping the list of foreign buyers.

During this period, Russians bought nearly 8,100 houses in the country, up from 5,400 properties they purchased in 2021 and 3,000 in 2020.

In the past years, top foreign homebuyers were Iranians and Iraqis, with Russians ranking third. But this started to change in April this year. House sales to Russians leaped nearly 190 percent in April, and demand from Russians has remained strong since then.

Istanbul is the most favorite property market among foreign homebuyers. In the first eight months of 2022, nearly 19,000 houses were sold to foreign nationals in the country’s largest city. Antalya ranked second with more than 13,000 sales to foreigners, followed by the southern province of Mersin at 2,300 houses. Foreigners also bought 2,200 houses in Ankara and 1,300 houses in the northwestern province of Bursa.

Meanwhile, all charter flights from Russia to Antalya are almost fully booked until the end of October, as Russians flee from their country, tour operators said.

Around 90 flights between Russian cities to Antalya are held each day.
Some Russians, who are already in the province for vacation, are extending their holiday, enrolling their kids in the International Russian School.