The price of housing in Antalya is now expensive even for foreigners

■ Hülya Keskin Oruçoğlu

Türkiye According to data from the Institute of Statistics (TUIK), house prices have increased by 551 percent in the last two years in Antalya, where 136,946 foreign citizens live. The average price of a 120 square meter residence in Antalya was 3 million 129 thousand TL (approximately 156 thousand dollars). In the city, the price per square meter of housing, which was 2,346 lira in January 2019, has increased to 26,082 lira today. This figure was estimated to exceed 40,000 TL by April 2024.

In Mersin, where foreigners have shown more interest in the recent period, the average price of a 140-square-meter house was 2,108,000 TL (approximately $105,000). While the price per square meter of housing in the city was 1,668 lira in January 2019, the price per square meter of housing in the city has increased to 15,064 lira today.

Real estate experts stressed that Antalya’s house prices remain attractive for European tourists, but Mersin is becoming increasingly important for Russian and Ukrainian tourists who left their countries due to the war.

According to data from the real estate valuation platform Endeksa, the increase in house prices in Antalya, which ranks second after Istanbul in home sales to foreigners, has reached 141 percent in the last year.

ACCESSIBLE MERSIN

The increase in the prices of houses for sale in Mersin in the last year increased by almost 120 percent and increased by 463 percent in the last two years. The average price of a 140 square meter house in Mersin was 2 million 108 thousand (approximately 105 thousand dollars). Anamur, Erdemli, Akdeniz, Silifke and Tauruslar were the districts with the highest home value in Mersin as of the end of April 2023, based on annual averages.

‘I don’t expect a drop in housing prices’

All Vice President of the Association of Entrepreneurial Realtors, Dr. Mustafa Koçak said that they do not expect a decrease in the increase in house prices. Koçak said: “There has been a major increase in house prices in the last 1.5 or 2 years. Purchasing power fell, interest rates on loans rose, and people began to be unable to buy a home. Buying a house is now a dream. Because as of today, banks have completely closed both lending and credit taps. I think that if an environment of trust is not created after the elections, the market will stagnate even more, ”he said.