Record Holders Of The Year: Among Countries, Turkey; Among Cities, Istanbul; Among Districts, Esenyurt

Analysts continue to publish updated statistics on real estate transactions for 2022. Of many states, Turkey ranked first in the rate of increase in residential real estate prices. Istanbul is in the most demand among the Turkish provinces, and Esenyurt is the most sought-after Istanbul province. But first things first.

Content:

• Turkey Leads in Price Growth
• Istanbul Is in the Highest Demand
• Esenyurt Is a Top Seller
• Property prices and price changes in the top 30 districts with most property sales across Turkey in 2022

Turkey Leads in Price Growth

The Republic of Turkey ranked first in the list of countries with the highest rate of house price growth, experts of an international consultancy, Knight Frank, said in the latest real estate sector report. They used data from almost 60 states.

It is worth reminding that Knight Frank’s reports are considered very authoritative, and their data is extremely important for the global real estate market. The company regularly examines house prices in different countries.

According to the final data for the period of January to September 2022, Turkey became the country with the highest year-over-year rate of price growth at 189%.

In second place among the countries included in the index is Estonia with a much lower rate of 27.3%, in third place is Hungary of 23.7%.

Some people think that it is incorrect to state the figure of almost 190% due to rampant inflation in Turkey; however, Knight Frank took this into account as well: the report highlights that although the nominal house price growth is 189.2%, when adjusted for inflation, it still reached 57.6%, which is twice as much as that of the runner-up.

Knight Frank also named the states where residential real estate prices declined the most during this period. They were South Korea (-7.5%), Hong Kong (-7.1%), and Peru (-4.7%).

Istanbul Is in the Highest Demand

Knight Frank also studied individual cities. And again, Turkey is ahead of the rest: Istanbul was declared the city with the highest increase in house prices in the world with a figure of 212.1%. Ankara, the capital of the republic, came in second with 196%, another Turkish metropolis, İzmir, ranked third with 185%, and Miami is in fourth place with an increase of 28.6%.

Experts also analyzed the districts of the largest Turkish metropolis (once again, Istanbul), where the most residential properties were sold. The Esenyurt district became the winner in 2022, and analysts have no doubt that it will also become the sales leader in 2023: 36,315 units were sold in 2022 alone.

Tamer Özyurt, a well-known expert and chairman of Özyurtlar Holding, shared his thoughts about this, being confident that a new record of property sales is expected in Esenyurt in 2023—at least 40,000 units.

Mr. Özyurt noted that one of the most important reasons that ensured such figures was the construction of affordable and safe new buildings in the district. By the way, the expert himself has been living in this district for about 33 years and has seen Esenyurt evolve over the past 20 years. He confirms that buildings that raise doubts in terms of earthquake resistance have been demolished here (which is especially important in light of the sad events that took place on February 6, 2023).

Esenyurt Is a Top Seller

Thus, Esenyurt is the leader of Istanbul and the whole country not only in sales but also in the quality of housing, the compliance of the district with all modern requirements, etc.

This is very important for the local population, because Esenyurt is also a densely populated area with more than a million people living here.

There are a lot of construction projects here, and new residences are still being sold at more affordable prices than in several other districts of Istanbul. This makes Esenyurt even more popular—not only among the Turks, but also among foreign investors.

“Affordable durable buildings will continue to keep Esenyurt at the top of the ranking of districts, the city, and the country in residential real estate sales,” Tamer Özyurt said.

The statistics of the international consultants are also backed up by Turkish experts: a specialized real estate appraisal portal, Endeksa, which utilizes advanced technology, including artificial intelligence and big data analysis, has published the final data for 2022. According to Endeksa, prices in Esenyurt increased by 158% over the year.

Alanya (a resort city in Antalya Province, which may very soon become a separate province) and Çankaya, one of the central districts of Ankara, the capital of the Republic of Turkey, also made it to the top three in sales in the entire country.

According to Endeksa calculations, the average selling price per square meter of residences in Esenyurt is 12,036 Turkish liras (TL), and the average price per property has reached TL1,323,960.

As for the districts that took second and third place in the ranking of the country’s districts with the fastest price growth, they are:

• Alanya (Antalya): TL27,434 (average price of 1 m² of residential real estate), average residence price is TL3,154,910.
• Çankaya (Ankara): respectively, an average of TL15,887 per square meter and TL2,065,310 per unit.

Görkem Ogüt, co-founder and CEO of Endeksa, commenting on the data, explained that when evaluating the districts with the largest sales volume for 2022, other “honorable mentions” in addition to the three already listed are Nilüfer in Bursa, Atakum in Samsun, and Kuşadası in Aydın. All these districts are being actively developed. Another reason for their popularity in terms of sales is that the average price per m² is sometimes (though not always) lower than the provincial average.

He gave some examples: if the average selling price per square meter for the whole of Istanbul is TL23,062, then in Esenyurt it is almost twice as low, TL12,036. A similar situation is in Antalya, where the average price per square meter of residential real estate is TL20,403, and the undisputed leader in the number of transactions is Alanya. However, the highest increase in prices was observed in the districts of the capital of Antalya Province: in Muratpaşa (average price per square meter, according to the latest data, is TL20,145) and in Kepez (TL14,208). The increase in house prices over the year amounted to 212% in Muratpaşa and 202% in Kepez; the return on investment period in both districts is currently 14 and 13 years, respectively.

The table below shows property prices and price changes in the top 30 districts with most property sales across Turkey in 2022 (ranked in descending order by number of transactions)