IPA presented the awards for "Best Real Estate Project" in Europe and Europe's "Best High-Rise Development Project" to VARYAP, the real estate subsidiary of Varlıbaş Holding, which is building the Meridian project in accordance with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
VARYAP is operating in collaboration with the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) and the Emlak Konut Real Estate Investment Partnership (GYO) on the project, which is planned to be completed in 2011, coinciding with Ataşehir becoming the center of finance not only for Turkey but for the neighboring region as well. The government is determined to move the headquarters of all public financial institutions including the Treasury and the central bank to Ataşehir to support İstanbul's standing as the financial capital of the country.
VARYAP CEO Erdinç Varlıbaş announced the awards in a press conference on Wednesday in İstanbul. He said the project has been widely welcomed ever since it was first announced last year and that nearly 80 percent of the residences in it have already been sold.
Varlıbaş also commented on the recent fall in interest rates on mortgage loans, saying he expects these rates to hit much lower levels in the period ahead, perhaps even below 1 percent monthly.
He also mentioned that convenient payment conditions help customers buy property more easily. The company is selling houses with a down payment of just 1 percent of the houses' value, with up to 120 months of installments for the remaining sum.
