Rent hike cap to be extended: Minister

ISTANBUL

A 25 percent cap on rent hike that will expire in July will be extended, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum has announced.

“The regulation will be in place until July, but we will extend it. We will protect our citizens against hikes against the above-average increases,” Kurum said, adding that the market will stabilize when home supply meets demand.

He noted that the government is working to produce units under social housing projects which aim at protecting people against earthquakes and helping people buy homes.

“All those projects are designed to boost supply,” Kurum said.

The parliament adopted the law, which introduced a 25 percent cap on rent hikes, in June 2022.

Rents increased by 4.89 percent in March from February, the Central Bank’s latest monthly price movements report showed.

On an annual basis, rents advanced 62.76 percent last month, higher than the 16.7 percent year-on-year increase in March 2022.

The headline CPI went up by 2.29 percent in March for an annual increase of 50.5 percent.

The rent cap caused rifts between landlords and tenants, Mustafa Hakan Özelmacıklı told daily Milliyet.

“The number of lawsuits over disagreements between landlords and tenants increased significantly.

Rent prices leaped 130 percent over the past year, according to Özelmacıklı.

Before the cap was introduced, landlords were able to hike rents in line with the consumer price inflation, he noted.

“The 12-month average CPI is 70 percent, according to the latest data,” he said.