The real estate sector enjoyed reliable growth between 2005 and 2007, with an average of more than 550,000 building permits secured each year, a direct indicator of the sector’s performance. This figure, however, fell to 501,005 in 2008 with the eruption of the global financial crisis. The last quarter of 2009 saw a significant recovery, with a 111 percent increase from the quarter before. Despite the economic woes, 2009 as a whole also saw an increase in building permits, registering a slight growth of 1.4 percent, though still remaining behind 2005 data. Last year, İstanbul and Ankara led the list of provinces with the highest number of building permits.
According to figures released by the Land Registry and Cadastre General Directorate, last year 1.52 million homes were sold across Turkey, up from 1.33 million the previous year. İstanbul ranked first with the sale of 221,811 units. In 2009, 531,746 houses were sold in the country over 427,105 in 2008. The number of houses sold last year was 131,150 in İstanbul and 101,246 in Ankara. Mortgage volume climbed from TL 37.54 billion in 2008 to TL 42.06 billion last year, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday. Accordingly, the ratio of mortgages to gross domestic product (GDP) was also up, from 3.95 percent to 4.47 percent during the same period. Mortgage share in overall loan volume had reached 11.6 percent as of the end of 2009.
Turkey has Europe’s fastest return on real estate investment
Turkey’s real estate market holds the record for the fastest return on investments in Europe, a report by Russian industry portal GdeEtotDom.ru has shown.
According to a study conducted by GdeEtotDom.ru, an apartment only needs to be rented out for 13 years to be paid off in Turkey. A homebuyer in Monaco has to rent out an apartment for 92 years to recoup his investment, the longest wait among others on the site’s list. France has the second longest wait with 34 years followed by Sweden and Andorra, both 32 years, and then Croatia and Italy, each 30 years. The survey took into account average rent and the cost per square meter of property during the past 12 months, but ignored utility payments and other obligatory fees for homeowners.
