Russian Buyers Becoming Prolific in Overseas Property

During the boom Russians became prolific in the world of overseas property, particularly in Bulgaria, Ukraine and other coastal hotspots in the region, but also in Spain and the Med. They, like buyers from almost all nationalities became rare during the financial crisis, but according to many reports they are now becoming as prolific as ever.

According to aiGroup, who surveyed Russian investors at their three property shows between September and November, 71% of Russian investors are planning to complete a purchase in the next 3-6 months.

More than two thirds of Russian overseas property exhibition visitors are looking to complete a purchase in the next three to six months. Kim Waddoup, chief executive of the group said that exhibitors at his Moscow and St Petersburg property shows reported "stronger than ever interest in their properties".

The reports are confirmed by official data, which shows a surge in capital flight out of Russia into foreign assets and investments. According to central bank chairman Sergei Ignatyev has estimated $49.3 billion has left the country in the first nine months of the year, already outstripping 2010’s figure of £35.3 billion. $13 billion of capital left Russia in September alone…70% of the third-quarter total.

Turkey is a firm favourite among the new breed of investors according to other reports. International Residence surveyed 499 Russian investors at the Moscow International Investment Show in March this year, and found Turkey to be the third most popular country among those looking to buy. Spain and Bulgaria were first and second.

US Property Market Finally Shows Signs of Stabilising

According to the second-quarter real estate market report from Zillow, the property market in the United States may finally be showing signs of heading towards stabilisation.

Although property prices have fallen by an average of 6.2% in the majority of markets, these falls have been slowing, with the last quarter showing just a 0.4% decline, the smallest for more than four years.

Some property markets are showing price increases, and negative equity has declined slightly. However economists are predicting that the bottom of the market won't be realised until next year due to the high numbers of foreclosures and continuing uncertainty over the economy.

Overall property prices have fallen by around 28% since their peak in June 2006, and the average property costs $171,600. The rate of foreclosures is gradually declining, as in March it reached a peak of 21.4% of all sales, while in June this figure fell to 19.7%.

Although property experts acknowledge this is good news they are still cautious about the future, and feel the road to recovery will not be particularly smooth. This is due to the fact that there are still a lot of foreclosures in the pipeline, and many people still have high levels of negative equity which could put their homes at risk in the future.

Some property markets have now shown two consecutive quarters of appreciation, and these include Washington DC where property prices increased 0.2% through to the first quarter of the year, and 1.7% through the second quarter. In the Pittsburgh prices increased 0.1% through the first quarter of the year and 2.8% through the second quarter.

Economic Growth Gives Turkish Property Complete Investment Package

The Turkish government needs to increase its growth forecast after an 18.9% increase in industrial production in October, came the calls from Ali Babacan the Economy Minister.

“Industrial output increased by 9.8 percent in October. The recovery in Turkish industry started in October 2009, and now we see a significant increase in the industrial production index. This shows that we, as the government, need to revise year-end growth expectations upwards,” he said.

After a reminder that the Turkish economy grew 11% in the first half of 2010 Babacan went on to say:

“The European Union, the International Monetary Fund [IMF] and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] indicate their year-end growth rate expectations for Turkey as 7.5, 7.8 and 8.2 percent, respectively. This shows that Turkey will be the fastest growing nation in Europe; both this year and next year. Turkey also has the lowest public debt to national income ratio in Europe.”

According to Aydin Cakir, director of Antalya based Turkish property agent New Home in Turkey, the economic growth adds another string to Turkey’s bow, making it even more attractive to overseas property buyers.

“While pure residential investment is growing, most who consider investing in Turkey property are looking at the holiday lettings potential. This class of investors is told to look for accessibility, a long season and a strong infrastructure on and off season. Turkey’s top destinations have always offered these things in abundance, and recently the number of flights is continuously increasing,” he said.

“A strong and stable economy is also something to be looking for, and while Turkey’s economy grew strongly during the boom, EU membership was hoped for to aid stability. But now, the reforms Turkey has made in aiming for EU membership have paid off in making it one of the strongest and most stable economies in Europe. We are predicting sales of property in Turkey to soar in 2011.

Turkish Property: a Look Back at the Last Couple of Years

Many people expected a severe downturn in the the Turkish property market in 2009, and who could blame them? Turkish property is fuelled by tourism, and tourism was dropping drastically as we ended 2008 with predictions that 2009 would be a very bad year indeed for global tourism. The fear was realised, but fears over the Turkish property market in 2009 were most certainly not.

This is mainly because the UK fell into the crisis faster and harder than the EU, and as a result the Euro skyrocketed against the British pound. This led to more and more Brits (and those with another currency the Euro was soaring against) looking outside the eurozone for cheaper and/or better value for money holidays, with more spending liras for their pounds.

This caused what would have been a big fall in tourism and British visitor numbers to be a slight, tiny drop in British visitors, and in overall visitor numbers as well. In Turkey it is a common saying that the tourists of today are the holiday home buyers of tomorrow, and the benefits of this are being felt this year -- especially because those forced to look outside the eurozone were mostly discovering Turkey for the first time.

We can see the benefits of this in the May report from overseas mortgage provider Conti, which said it gave twice the quotes for Turkish mortgages this May as it did last year.

Since then we have heard reports of similar increases in demand from other sources, most of which state that it is more investors that are pushing up the overall numbers, when combined with the core holiday home buyers.

"The reasons for this [increase in the number of investors] are the fact that the Turkish economy is growing much faster than that of the EU, which is also embroiled in a sovereign debt crisis; a sovereign debt crisis that has eradicated much of the competition to Turkish property, including Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal. On top of that Turkey has emerged from the recession as one of the fastest growing, most fiscally stable countries in the world," said Aydin Cakir, director of New Home in Turkey.

32,000 Brits Own Property in Turkey

32,000 British people own property in Turkey. Fact. Collectively they own 6 million square meters of Turkish land. Fact.

These figures are not an estimate, they are the official figures recently released by the Turkish General Directorate of Land Registry.

The data shows that the British are by far the biggest overseas buyers of Turkish property. According to the figures foreign buyers own 65 million square meters of Turkish land, with 6 million square meters Brits own almost twice the amount of land that Germans -- the second biggest owners -- do at 3.5 million square meters. Surprisingly Greeks are the next biggest owners with 3 million square meters.

Note the lack of Russian buyers in the top 3. A recent chart by the largest Russian language overseas property portal showed that Turkish property is third most popular with Russian buyers, which are currently millions strong.

According to New Home in Turkey the number of Russian buyers as well as those from eastern European and Baltic states are growing, but it will be maybe 5 - 10 years before they overtake Brits and Germans in the Turkish market, if ever.

Director of the firm Aydin Cakir said:

"Since the Turkish property market opened to foreign buyers in 2002, and then further in 2005, British buyers have always dominated the market. While Germans are the largest tourism market, Brits are more prolific buyers of holiday homes, with a much larger proportion of tourists buying property in a given country. Russian numbers are growing, but it will be at least 5-10 years before they overtake British and German buyers, and they may never do so."

Alanya Property Dominating Sales to Foreigners

Almost 25% of all Turkish properties sold to foreigners in the last five years have been in Alanya, according to local paper Alanya Adres.

Quoting figures from the Turkish land registry, the paper revealed that of 88,900 properties purchased by 100,623 foreigners from 44 countries in the last five years, some 17,000 of them were in Alanya.

Brits and Germans were most prolific, with the British buying most. According to the data some 30,710 Brits bought 21,321 properties in Turkey in the last 5 years, while 21.678 Germans purchased 26.365 properties.

It is always great to get hold of data like this from Turkey. The last data we saw came in 2006, when we learned that foreigners had purchased 5,556 units in Antalya Province (of which Alanya belongs) as of June 1st.

According to another recent report from the Turkish General Directorate of Land Registry, Brits now own some 6 million square meters of Turkish land, totalling 32,000 properties.

Alanya is home to the largest population of British expats, and surprisingly it is a very immature market with respect exposure to the overseas property market.

This is because Alanya is 90 minutes away from the Antalya international airport. Those who move to Turkey needn't care about such a small distance from the airport, but for those only able to spend short amounts of time in their holiday home, this would make them consider destinations much closer to an international airport.

Now that the airport at Gazipasa, just outside Alanya has opened and is currently being expanded to accept international flights, it is expected that developers will increase their focus on developing Alanya to the same level as many other Turkish towns.

Given the clear pulling power of Alanya property clear pulling power as displayed above, this is a very exciting time indeed for the town.

Thanks to New Home in Turkey for bringing this report to our attention.

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.

The Fading Importance of EU Membership Boosts Turkish Property

The international financial crisis was a mortgage and housing market crash so spectacular that it crippled economies in most countries around the world. The boom that preceded was equally spectacular; so spectacular that it made people forget the cyclical nature of economies and house prices.

The boom was fuelled by a massive increase in overseas property investment, so-called fly to let, which in turn was fuelled by the advent and growth of budget airlines. New cheap flights opened up new destinations and made them accessible to the masses.

Turkey was popular with holiday home buyers and holiday home investors, but for the pure investors fuelling the real boom something was missing. That was EU membership.

Turkey has been an official EU applicant since 2005, but France and Germany have been staunchly opposed to Turkey's entry.

Now though, Turkey is booming while the EU is withering, and this is making investors readdress their position.

In the year to end the second quarter of this year Turkish GDP grew 10.3%. The EU grew 1%.

Turkish GDP grew 11.7% in the year to end the first quarter. EU GDP grew 0.4%

Turkey's budget deficit is under 5% and many EU countries are in real trouble bringing deficits of up to and over 10% under control.

This has made Turkish property a more attractive investment than that of Greece, Italy, Portugal or Spain, take Dubai out of the equation as well and you can see why Turkish property is currently getting so much press coverage.

Turkish Property a Hands Down Winner in Buyer Confidence War

Some of you will likely have seen our latest article to be published by Buy Association, in which we lay out why no country can match Turkey on its combination of strong growth and high security and confidence, and popularity (buzz).

Sure, we have Brazil, which is also generating massive buzz, and growing massively, and China, which, is of course the fastest growing economy in the world. And while the fight is a good one on which country will see the fastest growth in rents and property prices, in terms of buyer confidence, Turkey is a hands-down winner before the gate opens.

Before the credit crunch, confidence and stability paled into insignificance as the majority of buyers chased the biggest gains to Dubai as well as far flung and exotic emerging markets, hanging the delays of due diligence to "get in quick" and be the "early bird" that catches the worm. But we all know how so many of them paid for their folly. The buyers to emerge from this are obviously paying much more attention to security, stability and only buying where they feel most confident and safe.

Not many people are inspired by a feeling of safety when hearing the word China. Its communist dictatorship government, along with its abysmal record on human rights abuses, oppression and all manner of corruption, are a massive hindrance to buyer confidence. Not to mention fear that your property could be seized and even you arrested if you do something against someone in power's interests.

For a majority-Muslim nation, the determination of Turkey's secularism is surprising. Since the coup of 1980, the country has reformed into a fully democratic secular nation. The performance of the current AK party and its history of successful reform is a great booster of confidence among foreign investors.

Brazil’s problem is its massive crime rate. Its murder rate of four times that of America puts a great dent in foreign buyers' confidence.

Turkey’s Islamic based law system is harsh, and as a result the crime rate kept low.

In fact, unemployment is Turkey’s main hindrance and even it is currently falling. Still, compared to the problems of China and Brazil, Turkey’s has a minimal impact on confidence.

Antalya Property Most Popular with Foreign Buyers

Antalya property is the most popular with foreign buyers of Turkish property according to a local realtor.

In a recent press release, New Home in Turkey said that Antalya is benefiting from the re-emergence of low budget buyers, who had been absent in the middle part of 2010 because things like the hung UK parliament, and austerity measures of varying degrees caused uncertainty about the future and severely dented confidence.

"We saw a return of these [low budget] buyers towards the end of 2009 and into the early part of this year, but it was fizzled out by the end of the stimulus, the EU debt crisis, the UK coalition government and other factors that dented confidence. Now there seems to be a sense that it is not going to be as bad as we thought, and buyers are returning," said Aydin Cakir, director of the firm.

Later in the release, the firm picks out Antalya, Side and Alanya as the most popular spots.

It is little wonder that property in Antalya would be the most popular, especially now that we know from many sources that low-budget buyers are indeed returning to overseas property.

It is practically an out of the box holiday home destination, in that it has everything the large majority of holiday home buyers are looking for, all right in Antalya town itself. Loads of shops selling everything you could ever need on holiday, from corner shops to supermarkets, a variety of restaurants, bars clubs, great beaches and a year round climate. To top it all of, Antalya airport is one of the best served airports in Turkey.

Turkey Real Estate Boom on the Cards Says GPG

The well respected Global Property Guide publication has just published a detailed report into the Turkish economy and property market. In its forecast report published earlier this year Turkey was featured as a recommended investment destination because it said property is grossly undervalued.

So undervalued in fact that the publication has published a report dedicated entirely to Turkey, titled Turkey: Europe's Best Yielding Property Investment, further, it was followed up by a research article on the site titled Turkey: A Housing Boom Ready to Roll.

The report points out the excellent performance of the Erdogan government in paying down debt, reducing the deficit and inflation, which subsequently allowed them to lower interest rates (the financial crisis was only a catalyst). Lower interest rates means more confidence to borrow, increasing the mortgage market (currently only 4% of GDP much lower than EU average 50%).

Combining the low interest rates with rapid economic growth, falling unemployment and resulting increased consumer confidence and you have the perfect conditions for a Turkish real estate boom.

According to the report, is now the third most visited city in Europe after London and Paris, yet the average square metre price of property in Istanbul is much lower and therefore severely undervalued. The report puts the average price of Istanbul property at 2,386 Euros per square meters, compared to 35,658EUR in Monaco, 14,421EUR in London, 11,851EUR in Moscow, and 9,961EUR in Paris.

Yields range from moderate to good in Turkey it says, putting the range at between 5% and 6.1% on 120sqm apartments. If you want to download the 43 page report click here.

Turkey Benefits from Eradication of Main Competitors

The excellent performance of the Turkish economy at present, alongside its solid fiscal status, is making the country a favourite with overseas property investors. When you compare the 11.7% growth in Turkish GDP in Q1 compared to the 1% in that of the EU, it is easy to see why. However, looking at the positive performance of Turkey is one thing, but you simply can't underestimate the importance of the eradication of its competition, due to their negative performances.

Greece

Take Greece for example. We all know that Greece is embroiled in one of the worst sovereign debt crises Europe has ever seen. Who would have believed we would have an EU country at risk of defaulting on its debts?

Worsening this still, the population has revolted against the austerity measures aimed at combating the runaway. This has disrupted tourism and led to warnings from the British Consulate and more. Them a terrorist group sprang up earlier this year threatening to target the tourism industry. There are buyers out there looking for bargains, which are still few and far between.

Cyprus

The south Cyprus title deeds debacle erupted when the world was reeling from the financial crisis. Needless to say Cyprus property sales to foreigners plummeted. Since other countries started to see recovery, North Cyprus saw court cases and foreigners losing property. Thus, sales are still struggling to recover across the country.

North Cyprus was Turkey's main competitor in terms of low property prices. So now with sales so low in Cyprus, where do you think all those low budget buyers are buying? That's right, Turkey.

Turkey Property Hotter with Removal of EU Hurdle

Some of you may have seen the article we had published recently in the Global Property Guide.

The article states 5 arguments why Turkish property is more popular as an overseas property choice now than it was during the boom, because it is now popular with investors as well as lifestyle buyers. But the main reason is not a reason per se, more the removal of a hurdle: EU Accession.

During the boom, investors looked at Turkey closely, but usually chose a country with a path to EU Accession closer to guaranteed than that of Turkey. As a result Turkey frequently lost out to countries like Albania, Montenegro and even Croatia.

But now, with Turkey’s fiscal situation, and economic growth potential far superior to that of the EU, accession to the Bloc is no longer such an investment gold star, and now Turkey is standing out as one of the best investment choices in the world.

It is widely held that the ratings agencies will soon give Turkey investment grade status, but already investors are heavily active in the country. A recent report highlighted that Turkish swaps were trading at the same price as that of Russia – swaps are what is sold as a hedge against a sovereign debt – this indicated that investors felt Turkey was as low a risk of default as Russia.

We wanted to post an expansion of this theory here in the hopes that it would spark a debate involving investors and buyers. Please leave your comment below.

Turkish Tourism Industry Wins Prestigious Award, to Boost Property Market

Turkey has been voted readers favourite by readers of the highly regarded, Condé Nast travellers magazine. Turkey was given a score of 94.81%, after readers of the magazine scored the world’s destinations on 10 criteria including value, and service. Turkey also scored highest in the world for value and range of accommodation.

“This is a testament to the massive growth in Turkey’s popularity as a tourist destination,” said Aydin Cakir, director of New Home in Turkey. “Turkey is a great place, with a growing infrastructure, low living costs, and friendly environment. Thus, it is unsurprising that more tourists would lead to Turkey winning awards such as the Condé Nast.”

The Turkish tourism has recently said that tourism to Turkey grew by over 9% year on year in the first half of this year. Tourism from Britain is up 15% in the first seven months of this year compared to last year according to the Turkish tourism office in the UK. ABTA recently said that Turkish tourism has been growing at 20-25% per year for the last few years.

With such growth, many have been waiting for an award like this; they believed it would only be a matter of time.

The award is also good news for those involved in the Turkish property market. This is because it will increase Turkey’s exposure to new tourists, who will see it as more worthy of giving it a try. This will boost rental yields, make Turkish property more attractive to investors, and bring more people to fall in love with Turkey and buy holiday homes.

There will also be the indirect effect of increasing economic, which could push up property values.

European Property Investment: Hard to Find Turkey’s Equal

When you look at the growth of the Turkish economy, the profits of Turkish banks and just the volume of positive information coming out of Turkey right now, it is hard to find its equal, or even a close competitor in Europe.

Turkey is an emerging market, and so any investment in the country must still be considered risky, but according to experts it is very close to receiving an investment grade rating from ratings agencies.

With emerging market investments risk can come from the banking system, the currency, the political system. But with Turkey all those things are creating minimal risk now, and in the foreseeable future. Both the banking system and the currency/foreign reserves system were overhauled and received a serious of reforms in the 2001 Turkish financial crisis, and the success of these reforms is now proven in the way Turkish banks have barely been affected and recorded strong profits throughout the Turkish recession in 2009, fuelling the way the Turkish economy has rebounded from said recession.

Don’t get me wrong, unemployment is still a massive problem for Turkey, and it still has a long way to go before it can call itself a developed economy, but for investors looking for growth in Europe in the next 5 years, it is hard to see anywhere bringing anywhere near the returns Turkey looks capable of.

What’s more the Turkish government seems determined to re-invest in future growth. Recent announcements have included a 400 million lira investment to make Izmir a yachting centre within Turkey and Europe. The announcement was made at the opening of the 15 million euro Cesme marina, and the investment will start with the expansion of Izmir port. Just some of the aforementioned positive news coming out of Turkey.

Turkey Property Hotspots Part IV: Dalaman

Dalaman is one of the ultimate Turkey property hotspots, well it has to be: Dalaman is the reason why Turkey overtook Spain as the top tourism destination for British travellers in 2008.

What? I hear you ask. No, of course it didn’t really. See what happened was (read in Devonshire accent and sound like British hit comedian Jethro), a member of ABTA published the top 10 destinations for British travellers in 2008, and Dalaman was in first place. Because of this and the accompanying press reports, the mistake was made that Turkey was the top destination for British travellers.

I found this out when I called ABTA in late 2009 after the report remerged. ABTA confirmed that British visitors to Turkey in 2008 was about 2 million, while Spain received 11 million visitors. They did say that Spain was now stagnant while Turkey was growing at 20-25 percent per year.

Anyway, digression over the important thing here is that Dalaman was the most popular destination for British travellers in 2008, if anyone has figures for 2009 we’d love to see them. There is however no indication that it would have shrunk, while the increase in new flights to Dalaman international airport is an indication that it would have grown.

Being a tourism driven market, this is a massive highlighter to the waves of young investors and holiday home investors to choose Dalaman property to make their Turkish property investment.

Turkey Property Hotspots Part III: Fethiye

Fethiye is our favourite Turkish property hotspot, and in our opinion will be one of the most popular places for low budget foreigners to buy property in the coming 5 years.

Fethiye has everything that savvy buyers are told to look for when buying overseas property:

Long Season: Fethiye enjoys over 300 days of sunshine per year, with very little rain (basically no rain during the summer, and very little in other seasons except winter).

Shops: Fethiye has all the shops that a holidaymaker could possibly need, including supermarkets, pharmacists etc. The majority of shops are open all year round

Dining Options: Fethiye has a wide variety of restaurants, from small “British-style” cafes, to crème-de-la-crème restaurants offering fine cuisine from around the world. Again, most of the restaurants are also open all year round.

Accessibility: Fethiye is just 30 miles from Dalaman international airport, which is well served by flights from the UK and other European destinations.

Beaches + Activities: Fethiye has great beaches and many activities for tourists to enjoy, including horse-riding and charter boat trips from the harbour, on top of the traditional pastimes like Tennis etc.

All these things make Fethiye very attractive to tourists, which, along with the low prices, makes Fethiye property to holiday home buyers. The package, as well as rising tourism also makes Fethiye attractive to investors.

But property in Fethiye has an ace up its sleeve: it is less than half an hour away from Olu Deniz, the most beautiful bay in Turkey, and arguably one of the world’s most beautiful coastal spots. Olu Deniz is protected and finding property for sale there is very difficult, thus Fethiye property is purchased by those wanting a home in Fethiye, and those wanting somewhere close to Olu Deniz.

Turkish Property Hotspots Part II: Antalya

Antalya is a place near-certain to become an overseas property hotspot in the coming months and years.

It has everything that property buyers are looking for in a holiday home investment: plenty of shops, a wide variety of dining options, great beaches, a long hot and dry season and great accessibility from its own international airport.

Antalya, like most of Turkey also offers among the lowest property prices in the world, and this is one of the main reasons why Antalya seems destined to become a hotspot; because of the potential for an increase in low-budget buyers.

Europe is currently struggling to recover from one of the worst recessions the world has ever seen, and almost everyone is feeling the pinch. Thus, more and more people will be looking for cheaper places to enjoy holidays, and this will highlight Turkey and places like Antalya no end.

Antalya is one of Turkey's upcoming Mediterranean regions, and so, as well as putting you in a top class European resort, it also puts you in range of many more, including Side, which is famous for its rich history dating back to Alexander the Great.

Even with all this going for it, you can still buy studio apartments in Antalya from as little as 30,000 euros, and 2 bedroom apartments a little inland for 33,000 euros.

Because Antalya is hot news at the moment, off plan development is massive, and there are many opportunities to buy off plan properties at prices even lower than normal.

3 Reasons People are Buying Property in Turkey

Property in Turkey is big news at the moment. We are seeing more and more websites coming up offering Turkish property, and more and more of the investment property specialists (those surviving) offering Turkish property. Here are 3 reasons why Turkish property is so hot right now.

1: Rapid Economic Growth

Turkish GDP grew 11.7% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same quarter of last year, following a year on year growth of 6% in Q4 2009, according to data from the Turkish statistical body Turkstat.

Yes, it is true that GDP shrunk 14% in Q1 last year, but in a Europe when none of the big hitters -- Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the UK – grew by more than 2%, having contracted in Q4 it is easy to see why Turkey is making the headlines. Especially when its growth is up there with that of China.

Property prices will grow naturally during times of economic growth, as inflation pushes up labour and material costs.

2: Continued Tourism Growth

The latest data on tourism from the tourism ministry shows that Turkish tourism grew 9.6% in the first half of this year, compared to the first half of last year. The growth is thanks in large part to growth in visitors from Russia, Bulgaria, Syria and Iran, filling a drop from Britain.

The overseas property segment of the Turkish property market is very much tourism-dependant because those buying will usually plan to rent out their property for an additional income.

3: Growing Confidence

Right now, you can hardly pass a week without hearing good news from Turkey, new marinas,, new investments, new resorts, new hotels from the big chains and new flights. What’s more there is very little in the way of negative news – like developments cancelled, or investors out of pocket -- to temper the positive. Confidence is a very big factor in overseas property purchases at the minute, and all this news continues to build confidence in the Turkish market, and will continue to drive buyers.