Turkish Property 3rd Most Searched for on Russian Portal

Number 1 Russian overseas property portal has published search data revealing that Turkey is the third most popular.

Experts say that the current dominance of low budget buyers is skewing the figures but I don't buy it. The data is based on the number of searches conducted by Russians currently searching for property on the portal, therefore it is inherently an accurate measure of popularity with Russian buyers. It is also confirmed by Turkish estate agents.

"British buyers are no longer the dominant force," says Aydin Cakir, director of New Home in Turkey. "We have been seeing Russian buyers overtaking them for some time and our findings are now confirmed by the 1-property.ru."

Before the crash, there was a lot of talk about the growing number of Russian buyers, and even of them overtaking British buyers in 2008. But then, despite many predictions that Russia would avoid recession, the global downturn struck Russia, and Russian buyers dried up just as British buyers did.

Now though, the Russian rebound is gathering pace as it once again becomes one of the world's hottest emerging markets. Meanwhile Britain is struggling to grow, and stuck in the quagmire of deep austerity measures. Millions of public sector workers are fearful of their jobs, as we know millions of jobs are to go, but no one knows when, how many and in how many chops.

Alanya is the top Turkish region with Russian buyers according to the 1-property.ru data, followed by Antalya, Belek, Kemer and Kusadasi.