House sales decrease amid rising loan costs

The real estate market in Turkey has been hit hard by the rising interest rates for mortgages and the political stalemate of newly elected deputies who have so far refused to take their parliamentary oaths, İstanbul Chamber of Real Estate Brokers President Sabri Ateş has said.

In remarks to the Anatolia news agency on Wednesday, Ateş stated that the oath crisis in Parliament and rising loan costs have negatively affected the real estate market across the country. “Currently, volume in the real estate market has declined by almost 50 percent compared to a year ago. There are no buyers or sellers in the market. The market [real estate] was already in a depression due to measures taken by the central bank that have led to higher lending costs. And now with the political stalemate, it has become even worse,” Ateş said. In order to cool down the overheating economy, Turkey’s economy administration — including the central bank, the Finance Ministry and several public institutions, such as the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) — have decided to take additional measures to slow domestic demand.

Ateş also said there are approximately 300,000 unregistered real estate agents in Turkey, meaning they do not pay taxes on the sales they make. “There are around 18,000 registered real estate agencies in İstanbul, according to the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce [İTO] and our chamber. However, we estimate the number of unregistered real estate agencies in Turkey has increased to 300,000, meaning there has been a huge loss in taxes,” Ateş added.

Source: Today’s Zaman