In 2022, Turkey entered the top ten most visited countries in the world. More than 50 million foreigners visited the country during the year. Istanbul became the leader in visiting, receiving 14.7 million tourists. Many of them entered the real estate market in Istanbul in search of affordable housing. 

In total, 1,159,853 housing units were sold across the country from January to October, which is 6.7% more than last year’s figures for the same period. In November, the total number of homes sold in Turkey amounted to 117,806 objects. The highest share of sales was in Istanbul – 19,687 objects, which is 16.7% of the total number in the country.

Due to the accelerated pace of sales and the shortage of ready-made objects, changes in real estate prices in Istanbul also followed. We will tell you more about the state of the real estate market in Istanbul and the prospects for 2023 in our material.

The trends of the real estate market

Years 2021-2022 have generally been successful for the Turkish real estate market. Istanbul as the most sought-after city among foreign buyers of housing (about 16.5-17% of the total number of buyers) has shown unprecedented growth over the year. Prices for apartments and houses in Istanbul increased by 241%. 

The main reasons for this were inflation and increased demand from foreigners. Despite the fact that the share of foreign buyers in the market is about 5%, this was enough to warm up the market.

Due to the rapid devaluation of the lira, Istanbul real estate has become more affordable for those who receive income in euros or dollars. Since the end of February 2022, the flow of buyers from Russia has also increased. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, in November 2022, Russians topped the list of buyers, buying 2,575 properties. And for several months in a row, Russian citizens have been leading the lists of buyers of Turkish real estate.

In the same November, sales of budget housing to foreigners increased by 40.6% compared to the same indicator of the previous year.

Prospects for the development of the real estate market in Istanbul in 2022-2023

To date, the Turkish government has taken a number of decisive measures to reduce the accelerated rate of price growth. So, in September, a large-scale social housing construction project was launched. Signals of a slowdown in the market were received in the summer. In the period from July to August, sales decreased by 12.9% and 12.7%, respectively, year-on-year. 

In September, the reduction was 23% compared to the same period a year earlier and 8% compared to August figures. In August, the rise in apartment prices in Istanbul 2022 slowed by 2.1 points. It is important to note that this decline was the highest since September 2017.

According to analysts, prices in Istanbul 2023 for apartments and other real estate will continue to increase, but the pace will decrease significantly. Today, the minimum value of real estate in Istanbul in rubles is 7.56 million rubles ($109,500).

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