Chinese nationals rank in Top 10 property buyers in Turkey

In the first half of 2020 there was a new entry to the list of largest foreign property in Turkey buyers: China. After a three-year absence from the Top 20 List, they jumped to eighth in the list published recently.

Chinese nationals buying property in Turkey

Chinese nationals purchased a total of 415 units during the January to June period, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). In fact, they came in third in June, purchasing 78 units in total.

According to data, geographically, the main cities that Chinese purchasers concentrated their buying in were: Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. 2016 was the last time that Chinese nationals entered the Top 20 List for foreign purchasers of property in Turkey after 281 units were bought.

Irfan Karsli, the Turkish-Chinese Cultural Association President, commented on the data, saying that there had been a large wave of Chinese investments in the overseas housing markets, especially in the US, for many years. However, in recent times, there had been a renewed interest in the residential real estate sectors across Europe and Turkey. This comes after the start of the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, which is also referred to as New Silk Road.

The BRI was launched by President Xi Jinping, enabling access to Chinese investors; this gave a huge boost to investments in Turkey by Chinese nationals.

The positive impacts

The increasing popularity of Turkey as a holiday and tourist destination by Chinese nationals has had a positive impact on Chinese investments in the country. Karsli explained: “The number of yearly arrivals of Chinese tourists to the country reached almost 500,000. Turkey is now a country that is recognised among other European countries in China.”

Another important factor was the competitive house prices in Turkey, which fuelled rising Chinese interest. Karsli stated that houses of a similar condition were as much as three times more expensive in China, which could also have had an influence on Chinese buyers looking towards Turkey.

Turkey’s view of the global market moving forward

Statistics show that the size of overseas investments in the international real estate market was 400 billion USD annually, and from this the leading destinations were the US and Europe, with shares of 75 billion USD and 100 billion USD, respectively. An expert followed this by saying: “Turkey should not content itself with only 6 billion USD. We should expand the market and the rising Chinese interest could be an important opportunity.”

The entry of China is an important development in the sector of real estate in Turkey. An expert stated that China could be a gateway for Turkey to improve foreign real estate investments, saying: “We should promote our real estate market more and advantages of investing here.”

Increasing sales in Turkey

Following the reciprocity law that was launched in 2013, overseas residential sales in Turkey increased significantly and saw Turkey come to the fore as a leading market in real estate along the Mediterranean coastline. Thanks to the laws and regulations, the country has become more competitive and allowed for a good position in global research.

Since the introduction of the reciprocity law, the income from foreign sales has surpassed 6 billion USD in Turkey. Last year alone, 45,483 units of residential properties were sold to foreigners, with an increasingly diverse demand each year.