Property prices soar 133 percent in March

ANKARA

The residential property price index increased by 132.8 percent in March from the same month of last year, the data from the Central Bank have shown.

In real terms, the index rose by 55.4 percent, while the monthly increase was 5.4 percent.

The unit price, consequently, climbed to 21,800 Turkish Liras ($1,100) per square meter.

In Istanbul, property prices leaped 127 percent compared with March 2021. In the capital Ankara, the annual increase was more than 135 percent. In İzmir, the country’s third-largest city, property prices rose by 133.4 percent from a year ago.

House sales continued to decline in April. Some 85,652 houses were sold in Türkiye last month, pointing to a 35.6 percent decline from the same month last year.

In the first four months of 2023, home sales fell 18.6 percent to 369,000, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported this week.

Problems regarding accessing loans are still continuing, said Mustafa Hakan Özelmacıklı, a real estate market expert. People are moving away from buying houses as an investment after the government announced that a 25 percent cap on rent hike would be extended, he added.

Mortgage-financed home sales were down 32 percent in April from a year, accounting for 25 percent of all sales.

“A lot of people want to park their money at the FX-protected deposit accounts instead of buying a house,” Özelmacıklı said, adding that in the face of weaker demand for houses, property prices are expected to decline in real terms.

He, however, predicted rent prices to remain elevated, even continue to rise.

“The month of May marks the beginning of the wedding season, which means demand for rental houses will pick up. Moreover, landlords will ask higher prices when leasing out their properties to new tenants because of the 25 percent hike cap.”