Keith’s Weekly Property News September 18-2022
A new mega public housing project, lira stability at record high.
Another slow week on the property market, with the flow of new actionable properties slowed down to a trickle, for all of the usual reasons that have been highlighted on multiple occasions. On the property front, the kick off for a massive social housing project was all the buzz. If it goes as planned, it will come as a big relief to those struggling to get a foot in the property market, low income families and young people. Of course, it is just the initial stages so it is always hard to predict the success of such initiatives. However, that an attempt is being made, is a significant first step and also shows the seriousness of the issue. Overall, it should have somewhat of a dampening effect on market prices, particularly in the lower end of the market. So, here is hoping that the project successfully meets its objectives.
Every day, the newspapers are full of stories about how high housing costs have an impact on daily lives. This, of course, is like most major cities in the world. Nothing new there. Students defer starting their studies or switching to cities outside of Istanbul. Young people staying at home longer than they wanted. People postponing wedding plans and much more. Of course, many of these are also exacerbated by inflation, not just housing costs. In any event, you put it all together and it is a source
of pain for a wide segment of society.Just a short word on negotiating for a property in Turkey, as I have written about it before at length. We are in something approaching a “seller’s” market. Not the type where you have bidding wars and so on. But, as we generally prefer to pursue properties that are at, or below market value and not waste our time on the many listings that are 10, 20, 30 % or beyond over-priced, the current trend is almost towards zero negotiation. The buyers just don’t drop the price and we are frequently met with the response that the USD was XXX a month ago when they put the listing up and they want to raise their lira price to reflect that. It was not always the case like this, but as I said. Now, more often than not, this is the reality. In this case, buyers should focus less on what “discount” they perceive they are getting and focus on whether or not they are getting fair value vis a vis the market as a whole. Also, we often face the issue where the seller wants a net amount in pocket and does not pay the stamp duty. Again, we have to focus on the whole number, as this is an entirely common phenomenon on the secondary market in Turkey.
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