According to data from the Land Registry General Directorate, the number of people in Turkey buying houses in cash increased in 2009 and is still the preferred payment method for real estate purchases. The data show that out of the 1.15 million pieces of real estate bought in the first nine months of 2009, 85 percent was paid for in cash, versus buying a house with a mortgage obtained from a bank. This figure was 80 percent for 1.36 million pieces of property bought in 2008.
The data show that the three most populated provinces -- İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir -- had the highest rates of credit usage, with 36 percent of İstanbul residents buying property using a bank loan in the first nine months of 2009. This figure was 33.8 percent for Ankara and 28 percent for İzmir. A total of 172,667, 112,008, and 58,808 pieces of real estate were sold in İstanbul, Ankara, and İzmir, respectively, during this period of time. Buying real estate in cash is much more widespread in eastern provinces, though the number of sales is only a fraction of the sales in bigger provinces. According to the data, out of 1,826 sales realized in the province of Şırnak, only two were purchased with a loan. This number was eight for the 604 transactions in Hakkari, 64 for the 2,597 purchases in Muş and 72 for the 3,220 purchases in Kilis.
H. Ali Taylan, president of the Federation of All Real Property Consultants (TEMFED), speaking to Today’s Zaman revealed his expectations for the real estate market in 2009, stating that the figures for the end of 2009 would show that the difficult year of 2009 outperformed 2008 and that “the number of real estate sales in 2009 would be the largest on record since the founding of the republic.” He added that the last two years had proved a mostly positive environment for real estate sales and that customers had become more educated about the real estate market.
“The prices of real estate along with the availability of credit are helping this sector. The only thing we need is for citizens to be confident about their purchases,” Taylan noted.
