Istanbul Municipality (IBB) is still discussing what to do with hundreds of thousands of empty residences in the metropolis. After all, an impressive amount of living space in Istanbul is not for rent or for sale, and no one lives there for a long time; at the moment, according to approximate estimates, it is from 450 000 to 750 000 houses or apartments.
Which Istanbul has as an eyesore, given the fact that there is a catastrophic shortage of rented housing in Istanbul; besides, it is urgently necessary to resettle citizens from emergency homes. As a result, the enormous demand led to excessively inflated rental prices.
Recall that we have already written earlier that the authorities plan to introduce an increased tax on such empty residences: if they do not "work", then at least let them replenish the treasury. Representatives of the municipality comment that this situation "destabilizes the housing market."
Despite the fact that the mentioned apartments, in which no one lives, are most often not the only "roof over your head", but the second, third and so on immovable property. Purchased for the purpose of investment, most often for resale: after all, the cost per square meter in the metropolis has already exceeded $1,500.
IBB emphasizes that empty apartments could be provided as temporary social housing for displaced persons moving out of emergency buildings; that is, the government is theoretically ready to subsidize it.
In addition, with the advent of such an additional "reserve fund", it is planned to stabilize the situation with rental prices, which 95% of respondents in Istanbul consider excessive.
The municipality refers to European practice; in particular, to the fact that Spain recently introduced a 150% tax on empty housing. So, if the owners refuse to let anyone into their idle residences even for a fee - which they are entitled to - then they may have to pay additional amounts for the mentioned "right". And the amounts collected in the form of taxes will be used for the construction of new earthquake-resistant social housing in the country.