Real estate in Turkey continues to be in high demand among Europeans as many people in the current situation of uncertainty are trying to keep their money secure. Housing is in many ways the safest investment because square meters don't get cheaper and it can always be resold.
Turk Estate has already written about how the surge in transactions in Turkey began in 2022 and how, since the end of February, in just a month, Europeans have «changed» the real estate market. We also talked about the most popular regions among Europeans buyers.
How has the situation changed now especially about making payments which has been extremely difficult for several weeks now?
Content:
- Payment of transactions and money transfers between countries is a light at the end of the tunnel
- Installments and mortgages
- Remote payment
- Gold and cryptocurrency
- Current «profile» of a European investor
- Current «purchase profile»
- Results and parting words
Payment of transactions and money transfers between countries is a light at the end of the tunnel
The problem of not being able to transfer large sums started back in March. Even people who managed to withdraw money from their own accounts in a foreign currency had difficulties with exporting them to Turkey. It became possible to send more than $ 10,000 per person from Europe. Transfers between countries have become impossible except for transfers up to $5,000 per month to close relatives and you have to confirm kinship to do this.
Bank transfers were «stalled». One of the most popular options was the Golden Crown payment system which you could send up to a million rubles to Turkey.
.jpg "It'll become easier for Europeans to buy housing in Turkey")
Installments and mortgages
Turkish developers selling new buildings gave great installment options before and they still offer them now. Also, installments are interest-free and often longer.
Besides, Europeans, like other foreign investors, still can purchase housing with a mortgage by making a start-up payment and approving a payment schedule. Read more in this article.
But, right now, it's necessary to pay on time monthly, taking into account the restrictions in terms of transfers.
Remote payment
This format is now in the process of «running in». There shouldn't be any difficulties as many Turkish companies have representative offices (offices) in Europe and there are also European accounts where can deposit an amount in rubles. It's also not a problem to evaluate and choose the property you like thanks to virtual 3D video tours.
But, issues of transferring funds from a European to a Turkish account and the correct registration of documents for the new owner, if they aren't in the country, are still not fully settled.
Turk Estate advises people who want to buy housing remotely to seek advice from qualified specialists.
Gold and cryptocurrency
In any case, buying housing in Turkey is carried out with by transferring money from a bank account. But, it isn't necessary to deposit the required amount to the account in Turkish lira or another currency (dollars, euro, etc.) in cash or by transfer. You can, for example, sell gold at the exchange rate. In the same way, funds from the sale of cryptocurrencies are withdrawn to existing cards. And since there are quite a few crypto investors in Europe, both of these options are now popular.
So, leading companies who sell housing in Turkey stress that the use of gold and cryptocurrencies in monetary transactions to buy residential real estate is more frequent. As practice has shown, many wealthy Europeans who arrive in Turkey open a bank account and deposit funds to it in gold.
With cryptocurrency, it's even easier. This is the standard process to withdraw the amount received for the sold crypto from «cold» wallets to a bank card.
Current «profile» of a European investor
A few years ago, our compatriots carefully chose comfortable but not too expensive housing and were in no hurry to pay the full amount. Also, they booked real estate with the minimum possible collateral. Then, in the last year the situation changed dramatically. Well, since February 2022, the picture in general is radically different. Real estate companies say that «Europeans come to offices with bags stuffed with currency». And they want to buy several real estate units at once from the elite category in prestigious areas and cities.
Remember that compared to February last year, this year, the number of transactions by Europeans increased by 97%.
The head of the Board of Babacan Holding, Ibrahim Babacan, said that over the past month, Europeans haven't just become very active, a huge percentage of interested parties are requesting transactions of $250,000 or more to get citizenship as soon as possible.
The «average buyer» is now purchasing several apartments, if possible, in Istanbul (at least one of them), and not to live or spend vacations in like before, but with an eye for «investment + citizenship».
The average «check» for purchasing residential real estate by buyers from Europe has already exceeded $150,000 in Turkey and this summer, experts say it will grow to $300,000 - 350,000.
Another important statistic is that Europeans who can afford not to be limited to the cheapest possible housing often now buy 4 apartments at once. Not even two! It became so noticeable that this even got into The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said that «Turkey has become a paradise for European oligarchs who are quickly transferring their ultramodern yachts to Turkish marinas. These are businessmen and high-ranking officials fleeing Moscow».
Gul Gul, the general director of the Istanbul real estate company Golden Sign, was one of the first to announce the figures that wealthy European citizens buy 4 apartments at a time to get Turkish citizenship quicker; «Now, if we sell 10 residential real estate units, Europeans own 7 of them».
Turkish real estate, development companies, as well as professional associations regularly discuss sales figures with their European partners to be aware of changes in demand. Chairman of the Board of Inhouse Global, also a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for the Promotion of Real Estate Abroad (GIGDER), Fatih Erguven, said that given the apparent increase in the level of «solvency» of buyers from Europe, they are more interested in real estate in Istanbul. This is promising from an investment point of view and this includes Antalya. So, a transaction amount of $350,000 is also not the limit. The expert says that contracts of $ 1.500.000 won't be uncommon.
«So far, there are 2 reasons slowing this down now. Firstly, the situation with air travel and secondly, difficulties with transferring funds. We're still trying to overcome it by expanding the use of the WORLD map. Hopefully, both problems will be solved soon so expected sales to Europeans will double in 2022.
Well, if the situation with bank transfers settles down, buyers from Europe will almost certainly take first place in the ranking of the volume real estate sales to foreigners. Our future potential market is another 1 to 3,000,000 families from Europe who are potentially interested in getting real estate in Turkey - these people will also gradually start buying».
Remember that the plan is to achieve the volume of transactions with residents of other states that is more than the threshold of 70,000 units of real estate sold or at least +20% compared to the previous year. Bold forecasts are +50% by the end of 2021.
Current «purchase profile»
What exactly are Europeans interested in, taking into account the information for the first 3.5 months of this year?
Firstly, besides Istanbul (like the priority investment areas as Turk Estate explains), there's a great demand for areas in the Mediterranean, Marmara and Aegean Seas. Another area that is quickly gaining popularity is Mersin where housing is very quickly becoming more expensive because of the construction of Akkuyu NPP and more new personnel coming to the region like workers, employees, etc.
Usually, Europeans have a clear preference for branded housing, which rises in price faster and/or is better rented. We can identify the most popular types of these residences.
Also, our compatriots aren't limited to buying housing. There's also a demand for offices and especially land plots. Also, land in Turkey has risen in price by about 50% over the past year. For land plots, the demand for «square meters» is growing quickly again in the largest metropolis of the country and its surroundings. Also, Europeans are clearly eyeing agricultural land like gardens and fields especially near more or less developed villages.
In the demand for land from foreigners, one of the «favorites» is the province of Manisa. Many foreign investors prefer agricultural land. It attracts a lot of attention because of its convenient location (near both Izmir and Istanbul) and geoclimatic conditions.
What the local authorities didn't fail to take advantage of is this year, more than 1000 hectares of almond and pistachio orchards have been laid out in the districts of Gerdes, Kula and Salihli specifically for foreign investors. Trees are already being planted there. Investors from abroad also want to buy livestock farms with greenhouses in many areas of Manisa.
According to the Main Land Cadastre Department, residents of other states have already bought 16,265,176 square meters of fields, vineyards, orchards and olive groves in Turkey.
Results and parting words
Remeber that in 2021, 58,476 residences were sold to foreigners throughout the republic and the sales figure increased by 43.5% compared to 2020. This year, an increase of 20-50% is expected compared to 2021.
Citizens of Europe are consistently in the top 3, second only to Iran and Iraq. At the same time, it's Europeans who are looking for a quiet life along with the opportunity to secure their savings who will purchase the most residential real estate in Turkey.
And finally, at the time of writing, the Turkish media «blew up» the news that an increase in the qualification for getting accelerated Turkish citizenship «for investment» is coming. The authorities have already approved an increase in the minimum amount to qualify for it from $250,000 to $400,000 (+60%).
But, this amendment hasn't yet entered into force. So, people who want to buy a house and get a Turkish passport in a matter of months, and if they've «saved» for several years to get a residence permit and don't need to live constantly in Turkey, we recommend that you hurry up with choosing your favorite apartments or houses. This will mean you have enough time to get the coveted citizenship.