The rise of Turkey's real estate in 2010 - Emerging Real Estate

The rise of Turkey's real estate in 2010

18/12/2010

 The Rise of Turkey’s Real Estate in 2010

When it comes to real estate in Turkey, most people argue that the entire industry is fuelled by another separate industry – tourism. While 2009 was in fact one of the worst years for global tourism in decades, this actually impacted the Turkish market in unexpected ways. We can all remember the pound falling away against the Euro forcing many UK holidaymakers to seek their trips outside the Euro zone, ie Turkey and Egypt. So while the international tourism industry took a major downfall, the Turkish and to a lesser extent, Egyptian markets barley noticed this shift.

Therefore, with the understandable belief that today’s tourists are tomorrow’s property investors, the country carried on with the hope that first-time tourists would then become repeat tourists, and with this increased demand there would be a natural increase in property acquisition. While this may have been the hope, figures given by overseas property mortgage firm Conti bear this out. They announced in May of this year that requests for Turkish mortgages from foreigners had doubled from the same time in 2009.

If you look at the Turkish economy in general, then the signs are also very encouraging. Turkish GDP grew by 11% in the first half of this year compared to previous and predictions by TurkStat indicate that the yearly amount will be around 8% making this the largest predicted growth in Europe. Meanwhile both the Turkish government and the IMF believe that growth will remain at around 5% for the next two to three years.

With the Turkish economy being in such a strong position, backed up by a tourism industry that barely sniffed while the rest of the European markets weakened dramatically, investor confidence in Turkey is probably the highest it has ever been. It should also be mentioned that the Turkish government’s efforts in paying down debt and strengthening their fiscal stance has contributed massively to this consumer confidence.

Already, ahead of the game Easyjet this week announced further routes and schedules into Turkey’s tourist areas which will only increase the interest in real estate options for Brits looking to invest in what is probably Europe’s most exciting market.