Second-hand houses put up for sale in property market on the rise

ISTANBUL

The number of advertisements placed to sell second-hand houses in the market has been on an upward trend.

Potential homebuyers are increasingly turning to the second-hand market as prices of new houses have risen significantly due to the demand picking up.

People are looking for safer houses in the wake of the deadly earthquakes that flattened tens of thousands of buildings and claimed the lives of more than 50,000 in southern Türkiye in early February. People are also buying houses as they view property as a good investment.

All these factors have pushed up the prices of new houses.

The increase in the number of advertisements placed for second-hand houses touched its highest level in the past year in March, according to a study by Istanbul-based Bahçeşehir University’s Economic and Social Research Center (BETAM).

The number of houses offered rose by 10.1 percent in March compared with the previous month to 882,100, showed the study, which collected data from the online classified advertisements platform sahibinden.com.

The increase in Istanbul, the country’s largest city by population, was up 12.9 percent monthly to around 253,000, while the month-on-month increase in the capital Ankara was 11.5 percent to more than 87,000.

In İzmir, the third largest city, a total of 66,000 houses were put up for sale, translating into a 13.1 percent increase from February.

The study also showed demand for second-hand houses, which fell in February in the wake of the earthquakes, also picked up in March. The house demand index advanced by 3.6 percent month-on-month and increased by 10.5 percent from a year ago.

House-for-sale advertisements stayed on platforms on average for 46.3 days in March, some six days shorter than recorded in February. It was 46.1 days for Istanbul, 36.9 days for Ankara and 53.5 days for İzmir.

Meanwhile, a separate report by Endeksa, which collects data on the property market, showed that home prices leaped 154 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

House price was 17,573 liras ($903) per square meter on average. Rents soared 197 percent on an annual basis in the same period.

Government ministers recently said that the 25 percent cap on rent hikes, which was introduced last year and supposed to expire in July, will be extended beyond its deadline.

Real estate owners who increase rents exorbitantly may face imprisonment, while judicial and administrative fines will be among other options, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said last week.