Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu announced a possible increase in the property tax for those owners who do not live in their apartments or houses themselves, and do not rent them out.
In Istanbul, there is a catastrophic shortage of quality housing for rent; at the same time, three quarters of a million apartments (about 750,000) stand empty, although they belong to someone. But if they gave up – on a short–term or long-term basis - it would partly help to normalize the obviously inflated rates for rental housing in the metropolis.
So, of course, owners will not be forced to rent empty housing; but from now on they should be prepared for an increased tax on their real estate.
The additional funds collected will be used to provide social housing to those in need, the Mayor of Istanbul said.
In this sense, the municipality plans to focus on world practice: in many European countries, there is already an increased tax on empty apartments.
Recently, average rental prices for different areas of the largest Turkish metropolis were published. Well, the average rental rate in the country has come close to 6,500 Turkish lira, in key cities it has crossed the threshold of 10,000 Turkish lira.