08.10.2026

950,529 transactions in eight months, mortgages up 27.6%, Istanbul up 7.3% in dollar terms year over year. I have analyzed the latest statistics and explain what is really happening in the market and where investors are making money today.

2025 was a record year for Turkish real estate: 1,688,910 properties were sold, 14.3% more than the year before. That is the highest level since 2013. In January-August 2026, 950,529 properties were sold. That is 6.8% less, but the pace is still close to the record.

When people ask me how the market is doing, I look at three figures:

For me, the last figure is the most important. The Turkish market rests on local buyers, not on foreigners. A Turk will not sell their apartment and leave the country because of the latest news. And if a property is in demand among locals, it is worth having for you too.

I am asked this question at almost every meeting. I answer with figures for the 12 months from August 2025 to August 2026:

An apartment example. In August 2025, an apartment cost 8,204,000 ₺, or $200,000. A year later, the same apartment costs 10,090,920 ₺, or $209,095. The owner earned $9,095 on price growth alone, and I am not even counting rental income here.

And this is the national average. In Istanbul over the same year:

Over the year, housing prices in Turkey rose by 23%, and rents by 26.4%. In Istanbul, rents went up by 34.5%. In US dollars, rents nationwide rose by 7.4%. The logic is simple: if rent rises faster than the apartment itself, the owner's yield grows every month.

Price growth in lira over 12 months (July 2026 vs. July 2025, Central Bank of Turkey data):

The gap between the best and worst regions is almost twofold, and within a single city the gap is even wider. That is why I always tell Clients: you should not be choosing a country, but a district and a specific residential complex.

Istanbul: the leading districts

Where we do not let our Clients buy: Esenyurt, Avcılar, Bağcılar, Sultangazi, Beylikdüzü. These areas have an oversupply of cheap new builds, elevated seismic risk, social risks and a weak resale market, and resale drags on for months. In 2020-2026, Istanbul's liquid districts grew many times over in dollar terms, while illiquid ones fell back.

Antalya: five different markets

Antalya's anti-districts: Zeytinköy, Baraj Mahallesi, Erenköy. Getting in is cheap, but there is no way out: resale takes more than 180 days and requires a 25-30% discount.

Purchases by foreigners in January-August 2026, top ten countries:

Buyers from Russia, Iran, Ukraine, Iraq and China form the core of foreign demand. And I consider Germany's presence in the top 10 a good sign: European buyers do not enter markets they do not trust.

Tourism. In 2025, Turkey welcomed 62.78 million foreign visitors, and tourism revenue reached $65.23 billion. In January-July 2026, the country welcomed 27.86 million foreign guests.

Two cities in the global top 10. Istanbul ranks 5th in the world (19.7 million tourists), and Antalya ranks 8th (18.6 million).

The economy. GDP +2.3%, retail sales +10.4%, exports +4%, infrastructure construction +14%.

Turkish real estate is growing in US dollars: by 4.5% on average nationwide and by 7.3% in Istanbul, while rents in Istanbul rose 14.3% in dollar terms. But a national average is like the average temperature in a hospital. Within the market, there are properties that have become cheaper and properties that have outperformed the market two- or threefold.

An investor's goal is not to buy "Turkey on average" but to land in liquid districts. At DDA Real Estate Turkey, we check every property against 10 liquidity metrics, and only 7% of projects pass our filter. In the first eight months of 2026, we sold 158 properties.