Residential properties losing appeal as ‘investment’

ISTANBUL

Demand from those who want to buy homes as an investment has been weakening in Türkiye due to the combination of several factors, including higher interest rates and curbs on the growth of loans, people from the construction sector have said.

House purchases once soared when people turned to residential properties to seek protection from high inflation.

The government, however, recently announced measures which aimed at discoursing people from buying houses for investment purposes.

“Those who see homes as an investment have withdrawn from the market. Demand has been on the decline, which prompted homeowners, who wish to sell their properties, to lower prices. Homeowners are now more willing to negotiate the prices,” experts said.

They noted that the 25 percent cap on the rent hike, which the government extended for one year, also discouraged potential homebuyers, who wanted to buy a home only to make money from rental properties.

According to the experts, banks are now less willing to extend loans in the face of the rising interest rates, which is another reason for the decline in demand for houses.

There is stagnation in the housing market, said Hakan Akdoğan, the president of the All Entrepreneur Real Estate Consultants’ Association (TÜGEM).

“There is no appetite for investing money in residential properties. In the market, there are only those who really need a house to live in. The most important reason for this is that banks are turning off the credit taps,” he said.

Property owners, who used to raise the prices of their homes almost on a weekly basis when demand was strong, are now cutting the prices by 10 to 15 percent, according to Akdoğan.