Turkish expats in Germany seek real estate investment opportunities back home


Turkish daily newspaper Sabah, Daily Sabah's sister paper, brought together Turkish expats living in Europe with the leading representatives of the Turkish real estate sector in Berlin, Germany. Turkish citizens participating in the event have expressed their great interest in Turkey's real estate market.

Organized in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, the event at the Titanic Chaussee Berlin Hotel was attended by Emlak Konut REIT, Kiptaş, Sur Yapı, Artaş İnşaat, Nef, Kuzu Group, Teknik Yapı and Gap İnşaat.

The next leg of the event will be Cologne on October 27-28. Turkish citizens in Germany showed great interest in the Berlin meeting. Investors stated that buying a real estate property from Turkey has become attractive due to the increase in the exchange rate.

"It had always been our dream to buy a house in Turkey. The opportunity campaign, as well as the exchange rate hike, was also an important reason for us to realize this dream. We would like to thank Sabah for this opportunity," they added.

The construction sector, which had hit the bottom with the exchange rate volatility, undertook an unprecedented campaign. In the campaign involving hundreds of companies, housing loan interest rates were lowered to 0.98 percent in the 120-month term from levels exceeding 2 percent previously. In the campaign, which will be valid until October 31, the down payment rate was reduced to 10 percent. The most striking part of the campaign is that citizens were directed from foreign currency or gold to real estate.

In case the down payment is deposited in foreign currency or gold, the central bank rate of that day will be taken into consideration.

Meanwhile, after the recent currency volatility, Turkey's real estate market has attracted more investments from foreigners. Property sales to foreigners in Turkey skyrocketed by 151.1 percent year-on-year in September, reaching 5,615 units, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Friday.