The president of the Istanbul Chamber of Realtors Nizameddin Asha expressed confidence that during the year exorbitant rental rates will still fall: «The rent for housing at the current cost of 10,000 Turkish lira per month will be reduced to 6,000-7,000». Mr. Asha explained this to the press by saying that, in his opinion, the «fever period» in the housing market is coming to an end: they say, the trend towards lower rental rates has already begun to emerge. It cannot be otherwise: after all, in order to pay rent at current rates, the breadwinner of the family needs to earn about 30,000-40,000Turkish lira (TL) per month. And very few people can boast of such incomes in the country.
Therefore, a situation where the monthly rental rate exceeds the average salary of a Turkish citizen is unacceptable. And the authorities continue to struggle with this: a restriction has already been introduced on the annual increase in rent for the prolongation of annual contracts in the amount of a maximum of 25%. Although, since the new rule has just come into force, it is not possible to track its compliance everywhere, and in many cities and districts, homeowners still this summer inflated tariffs by 50-60%, or even 100%.
Nevertheless, Nizameddin Asha is sure that if the rent does not fall from 10,000 TL to the previous 3 thousand, then it may well decrease by at least 30-40%: up to 6,000-7,000 TL: «There was already a similar situation in Turkey: between 2016 and 2018, rental rates decreased by 50%, as and the prices for the sale of some properties». And indeed: the owners, who three years ago asked for several million TL for their houses, eventually had to sell them for 800,000-900,000 TL, if for one reason or another they could not postpone the transaction.
So, the Istanbul Chamber of Realtors is optimistic; we will see how their forecasts will come true in the coming months.
Moreover, the government has announced another important measure for the rental market: providing tenants with so-called social housing at reduced rates.