27.10.2026

"The news is full of elections, the lira and conflicts in the region. Won't I lose everything?" This is the first question almost every investor asks. And I want to answer it not with forecasts but with history. A hundred years ago, wealthy families from all over the world took their money to Swiss banks not for high interest, but for one thing: to preserve capital for generations. I have lived and worked in Turkey since 2020 and have been in real estate since 2007, and today I see Turkish real estate following the same path. In this article I will look at whether Turkey is stable for real estate investment through the same principles on which Switzerland built the trust of the whole world.

Swiss banks did not earn their reputation in a day or through super-high returns. Their trust was built over more than a hundred years on five principles.

1. Neutrality. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Switzerland secured the status of a neutral state. While Europe went through wars, revolutions and confiscations, capital flowed there. People understood: governments change, Switzerland stays.

2. Property protection. The 1934 banking secrecy law told the world a simple thing: your capital is your private property.

3. Preserving capital instead of chasing returns. American banks often earned more, but also took more risk. The Swiss kept reserves, lent cautiously and looked "boring", but they came through crises better than others.

4. Generational thinking. Lombard Odier was founded in 1796 and outlived Napoleon, two world wars and the Cold War. Pictet still tells its Clients: "We think in generations."

5. Private banking. The Swiss sold not an account but an architecture for family capital: how to preserve wealth for 50-100 years and pass it on to the children.

And one important lesson. Credit Suisse existed for more than 160 years, but when it started copying an aggressive model and chasing profit, it collapsed in 2023 and was taken over by UBS. Even a country's strongest reputation does not save those who abandon a conservative approach. I apply this lesson to real estate too.

An honest caveat: today Swiss banking secrecy is no longer absolute, and Switzerland exchanges tax information with many countries. Their main advantage today is not "hiding" money, but stability, legality and protection. That is exactly what I compare with Turkey.

I am not comparing the lira with the Swiss franc, that would be unfair. I am comparing something else: how a country protects a foreigner's asset and how that asset survives crises. And real estate in Turkey is effectively priced in US dollars and grows in US dollars.

Neutrality, Turkish style. Turkey is a member of NATO and of the customs union with the EU, and at the same time keeps working relations with the US, China, Russia, the Gulf states and Central Asia. For an investor from any country, this means your passport will not become a problem for your property.

Property protection and legacy. In Switzerland, capital was protected by the banking secrecy law. In Turkey, your property is protected by the state registry: the TAPU is in your name, it has no expiry date, and it passes to your children by inheritance just as it does in Turkish families. That is generational thinking.

Capital flows into the country. According to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2025, Turkey ranked first among 56 countries for growth in the number of US dollar millionaires: +8.4%, almost 68,000 people. It is local buyers who now purchase the most expensive properties in Istanbul and Bodrum. And in 2025, tourism brought the country a record $65.2 billion.

Swiss banks are valued not because they never had crises, but because they survived them. It is the same story with Turkish real estate.

Why does the market withstand such blows? The answer is simple: local families hold it up. More than 98% of home buyers in Turkey are locals, the population is young and growing, and less new housing is being built: in Q2 2026, building permits for apartments fell by 9.5%. When demand is held up by a country's own citizens rather than foreigners, no outside news can crash the market.

And one more parallel with Credit Suisse. During the 2023-2025 stagnation, agencies that sold aggressively and promised 15% a year and illiquid properties left the market. Those who worked conservatively stayed. Together with my Clients I went through the pandemic, the lira crash, the earthquake and the stagnation, and my own properties in liquid areas are worth more today than I paid for them.

The best proof of a country's stability is not advertising, but the trust of the world's most cautious guests. From 9 to 20 November 2026, Antalya hosts COP31, the UN Climate Change Conference. The World Leaders Summit will take place on 11-12 November, bringing dozens of heads of state and government to Antalya. The conference will be opened by the President of Turkey, the UN Secretary-General and the Prime Minister of Australia, and such conferences bring together tens of thousands of participants and the global media.

What does this mean for an investor in Antalya real estate?

Switzerland once became the place where the powerful of this world met. Today Turkey is becoming such a venue, and Antalya is at the center of this attention.

After two years of stagnation, the Turkish real estate market is turning around.

August showed growth in sales to foreigners for the first time in several years, and September already gave almost +10%. For me, this is a signal that the stagnation is over and a new stage of growth is beginning.

Swiss banks did not sell returns. They sold safety, capital protection, legal stability and inheritance. And they beat almost everyone, because wealthy people thought: "I can make money anywhere. But where will I keep it safe for 30-50 years?"

Today I ask myself the same question about real estate. And I answer honestly: Turkey is not perfect, it has crises, and the lira is not the franc. But the asset itself, real estate in a liquid area, is protected by law here, passes down by inheritance, rests on local demand and grows in US dollars. That is the Swiss approach, just in the form of square meters.

The key condition is the same as for the Swiss: conservatism. Don't chase promises of super-high returns, and choose only liquid properties that a local family will want to buy.

Yes, if you choose a liquid property. The market rests on local buyers (more than 98% of deals), a foreigner is protected on an equal footing with a citizen, and prices grew in US dollars over the year: Antalya +4.7%, Istanbul +7.3%.

No. The property is registered in the state TAPU registry and protected in the same way as property owned by Turkish citizens.

Over 25 years the market has survived a banking crisis, a global crisis, lira crashes, a pandemic and an earthquake, and it recovered every time. Liquid properties that local families need keep growing, even in times of crisis.

Because Turkish real estate offers what people valued in Swiss banks: property protection, inheritance, resilience in crises and preservation of capital in US dollars. It is not about the currency, it is about protecting the asset.

It is the UN climate conference that will take place in Antalya on 9-20 November 2026 with dozens of heads of state attending. For real estate, it means global attention to the city and new infrastructure.

Swiss banks sold their Clients not an account but an architecture for family capital. We work the same way: we don't sell an apartment, we build a system.

Sergei Dubinets is the founder and head of DDA Real Estate Turkey, a licensed broker, entrepreneur, investor and economist. He has lived and worked in Turkey since 2020 and has worked in real estate and real estate law since 2007. He invests in Turkish real estate himself and lives between two cities, Antalya and Istanbul. ddakey.com