With the decrease in coronavirus cases, the start of the normalization process and the decrease in mortgage interest rates have mobilized the real estate market at a record level. In Turkey, 93 thousand 704 houses with mortgage loans were sold in total between 1-27 June. Last year during the same period, sales of houses with mortgage loan were 6 thousand 658 in Turkey compared to 14 times increase this year. Burçin Önder, Director of Vocational School, Izmir University of Economics (IUE), said, “Decrease in interest rates in housing loans became life support for the market. This dynamism will continue in the coming months.”  

Housing loan campaigns initiated by banks stimulated the stagnated real estate sector due to the coronavirus outbreak. Citizens, who wanted to take advantage of loan opportunities up to 15 years term loan with 12 month-deferred payment, took action to purchase their dream home. The real estate sector had the most intense period lately thanks to the citizens pursuing to buy the most suitable house for living or investing.

IZMIR’S VALUE INCREASES

Sharing valuable information about house sales in Turkey, Burçin Önder, Director of IUE Vocational School, said, “The real estate market is running at a record pace. In Turkey, 93 thousand 704 houses with mortgage loans were sold in total between 1-27 June. The number reached 284 thousand 487 with the sale of land and office spaces. If we consider that 6 thousand 658 mortgaged housing sales were made in June of last year, we can also understand the interest of the citizen. Approximately 15 times increase is a substantial figure. It looks like this dynamism will continue throughout the summer. Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, and Antalya are the leading cities in house sales. In Izmir, 6 thousand 220 mortgaged houses were sold between 1-27 June. Izmir is in third place with this number following Istanbul and Ankara. Izmir is already a city that has attracted attention for a long time. In addition to the quality of life and appropriate climate, the fact that the cases were less common during the pandemic period also increased the interest in Izmir. Izmir is a city that increases its value day by day and has the power to compete with many European cities.”      

REALISTIC PRICES IN DETACHED HOUSES

Stating that there was an increase in the prices of detached houses during the pandemic period, but the prices started to return to normal slowly, Önder said, “In the pandemic period, searches for detached houses on the internet had increased by 252 percent. Prices also increased by 25 percent in Turkey, and 15 percent in Izmir. Rents also hit the ceiling in this direction. The demand for detached houses has not decreased. However, with the normalization period, we see that the prices of detached houses have started to reach realistic levels. People buy a house by acting on the idea of ​​'There will be no such opportunity in a short time'. Companies, that can understand the demand change in the market well and carry out qualified projects, will be profitable in this period. A foreign company in the past conducted a research on Turkey’s map for imagination. It was revealed in the research that one of the biggest dreams of the Turks is to own a house. The drop in interest rates made dreams come true in a sense.”