More than 85,000 Turkish citizens have purchased homes in London, U.K. over the last five years, according to a real estate consultancy firm.
Neşe Jenkins, CEO of Allytta Real Estate Consultancy, said that the number of prospective Turkish buyers contacting them has increased almost 297 percent in the last two years.
Jenkins said that particular investor information was confidential and that there was no exact figure on how many Turks have purchased houses in London because the city's Land Registry Office does not have any statistics in this regard.
"However, according to our studies, we think that at least 85,000 Turks have bought houses in London over the last five years. In addition, according to official figures, some 17,000 Turks have immigrated to the U.K. during the same period," she noted.
She added that real-estate buyers from all over the world come to London with two main objectives of purchase, namely "investment" and "residence," adding that hundreds of thousands of properties change hands in London every year, while housing worth billions of pounds are sold here, especially to the world's richest people.
After Brexit, housing prices in London began to decline, Jenkins noted. She added that according to the U.K. Department of Land Registry, real estate prices in London fell by 0.7 percent in May 2017, which has been recorded as the biggest decline since the financial crisis in 2009 in the U.K.
Indicating that everyone has major expectations for the post-Brexit period, Jenkins said: "This process will end in March 2019. Price increases are expected for 2020 and afterward. We are in a very advantageous period for those who want to invest in London's real estate sector. A significant increase is expected over the next five years."
She noted that all countries are interested in London, with the greatest interest coming from Dubai, Singapore, Russia and the Gulf states.
Jenkins said Turkish investors prefer London's Chelsea region the most, and stressed that Turks have always been interested in London.
Residences are available at a price range starting from 375,000 pounds (approximately $491,000) to 400,000 pounds in London, she said, adding that only 1 + 1 apartments can be bought with these figures, but Turkish people prefer to buy 2 + 1 apartments to stay, invest, or to send their children to school in the city.
"The average amount of money Turkish buyers allocate on a house in London is nearly 1 million pounds. We have seen both less and more. But the average figure is 1 million pounds," Jenkins continued.
He remarked that new homes in London are not easily built and that affordable housing is difficult to find, adding that even British people cannot buy housing from London, as the region is mostly preferred by global investors and rich people.
Regarding the most expensive real estate bought by Turks in London to date, Jenkins recalled a purchase by an Azerbaijani-Turk at the cost of more than 140 million pounds. "Not long ago, a Turk paid 90 million pounds for a house in the Knightsbridge Apartments in London," Jenkins added.
