There was a 2023 percent decrease in real estate purchases by foreign investors in Turkey in 48 on an area basis and a 46 percent decrease on a transaction basis compared to the previous year. (EVA Real Estate Valuation report). According to the data of the Department of Foreign Affairs; Real estate acquisitions by foreigners, which totaled 2022 million 8 thousand 338 square meters in 976, reached 2023 million 4 thousand 354 square meters in 216.
Evaluating the announced figures, Master Architect and project developer Emrullah Yedikardeş stated that, in popular parlance, the works were cut in half. "Revents prove our concern about selling to foreigners. Foreign real estate buyers started to move away from Turkey. "The brakes have been put on foreign sales, which once kept the market alive," he commented.
Pointing out that the negative process regarding sales to foreigners started as a result of the logic of tradesmen who do not recognize principles/ethics, Emrullah Yedikardeş said, "When the malicious marketing mentality of selling 1 to the Turkish buyer for 5 to the foreigner prevailed in real estate, the foreigners who noticed the situation became offended. For this reason, it is legally required to prepare a real estate valuation report in transactions involving foreigners. "This was also true, because it was their right for foreigners to buy at a price at least close to whatever it was worth," he said.
HOW DO APPRAISAL REPORTS CREATE AN OBSTACLE?
However, now these real estate appraisal reports have started to pose an obstacle to sales. Explaining that there were sales that could not be realized because the sales value and the valuation amount did not match, Emrullah Yedikardeş continued his words as follows:
“Valuation reports contain figures that are more or less close to the market. But there is a place where these reports go: GABİM. Long known as Real Estate Information Center. GABİM has been rejecting the reports for a while, finding the valuation high. Our appraiser friends state that 80 percent of the reports are rejected. We do not know for what reason GABİM rejects it. Maybe the sensitivity that has arisen in some segments of society due to the granting of citizenship to foreigners through sale has a share in it, or maybe there are other justified reasons. However, there is a fact that this situation both prolongs the sales process and can lead to the return or cancellation of the sales made.
CITIZENSHIP IS NOT THE ONLY PURPOSE OF FOREIGNERS
Emrullah Yedikardeş explained that citizenship is not the only goal of all foreigners, and that this uncertain situation hinders those who really want to invest in Turkey, and pointed out that only 2023 percent of the 40 thousand 297 real estate investments made by foreigners in Turkey in 18 are for the acquisition of citizenship.
THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY
Emrullah Yedikardeş stated that housing producers and developers have recently become breathless due to the state of the domestic market and have largely pinned their hopes on foreign sales, and said: "On the one hand, the interest rate problem and decreasing bank loan limits that put domestic buyers in trouble, on the other hand, the prices are increasing regularly and therefore you can buy what you bought yesterday." The shortage of construction materials that cannot be replaced today (not to mention the construction personnel that cannot be found and the high wages that must be paid to existing ones), on the other hand, decreasing sales and decreasing capital have reduced the mobility of the sector. "When the real estate appraisal problem and even the unofficial blockage of institutions in the citizenship process were added, the sector set its sights on Ankara," he commented.
IF A SOLUTION IS NOT FOUND, 2024 NUMBERS WILL NOT BE BRIGHT.
Emrullah Yedikardeş, who warned that private sector housing producers should be allowed to breathe, said, “We must have known from the old times how much damage a breathless construction industry could do to the Turkish economy. Although these figures are for 2023, we can already say that bright data will not come from the first quarter of 2024. The problem is urgent, and developing solutions urgently is our only hope as a sector. Of course, there will be various solutions that can be considered. For example, if there really is an unofficial blockade on sales of institutions to foreigners, this can be removed and uncertainty can be eliminated. In this way, in addition to granting citizenship through investment, the way can also be paved for those who want to make normal real estate investments. For example, a way can be opened by saying that sales can be made at 30 percent more than the expert report.”
Expressing that they will support any solution that will overcome the blockage as project developers, Emrullah Yedikardeş said, "The issue should first be to diagnose the problem, see what kind of wounds this problem causes for the sector, and then start the treatment process urgently."
