Istanbul's Asian side property prices exceeded European side

According to the New Property-Residence Price Index for January - prepared by Reidin and Gyoder with the support of Iş Bank - prices for branded properties increased 0.48 percent when compared to December 2015 and by 8.84 percent when compared to the same period last year. The price increase for Istanbul's Asian side, approximately 0.57 percent, surpassed the increase on the European side, 0.42 percent. For 1+1 properties, prices increased 0.30 percent, 2+1 properties increased 0.35 percent, 3+1 properties increased 0.79 percent and 4+1 properties increased 0.07 percent.

According to the index, 84 percent of the properties sold in January were completed residential properties, while 16 percent were uncompleted residential properties. Meanwhile, 20 percent of properties sold on the Asian side and 14 percent of properties sold on the European side consisted of completed apartments. While 34 percent of branded properties were sold to foreigners in January - 39 percent in the last six months - the most preferred apartment types were 3+1 apartments with an area of approximately 139 square meters.

The highest property price increases in in January 2016 were observed in the province of Bursa. In January, 99.6 percent of branded properties sold had 1 percent value-added tax (VAT) applied, while the remaining 0.04 percent had 18 percent VAT applied. In January, 28 percent of buyers that bought branded properties paid cash, while 40 percent used bank loans and credits and 32 percent paid in bonds.