Home supply to increase to bring rents under control: Şimşek
ANKARA
Housing supply will be boosted in order to tame increases in rent prices and support the fight against inflation, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said.
The real rent index soared more than 297 percent between November 2018 and November 2023, the minister noted, adding that the monthly increase in rents, however, slowed from 9.5 percent in October last year to 4.48 percent in December.
“In the medium term, housing supply will be increased in order to combat inflation and prevent price increases in rents.”
“New social housing projects will be developed to compensate for losses in housing stock caused by the earthquakes, and access to housing for low-income citizens will be increased,” Şimşek said.
The data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed earlier this month that homeownership has declined in Türkiye in the past decade.
The number of people living in their own dwellings fell from more than 60 percent in 2015 and earlier to 56.2 percent in 2022, according to the statistics authority.
Homeownership was 61.1 percent in 2014.
Some 27.8 percent of the population was living in rented apartments last year, marking a slight increase from 27.2 percent in 2022.
“High home prices and high interest rates are the main reasons for the decline in homeownership,” said Ramadan Kumova, the president of the Association of Housing Developers and Investors (KONUTDER) in comments he made earlier this month.
Land plot prices push up home prices, according to Kumova.
“What we propose is a public-private partnership where homes are built on public lands. This may lead to a 40 percent decline in prices,” he said.
