23.10.2026

Every month I prepare a report for the Company on the Turkish real estate market based on official TÜİK and Central Bank figures. The September data came out on October 16, and now we can honestly sum up the first 9 months of 2026: how many apartments were sold, how many foreigners bought, how prices changed in lira and in dollars, and which districts of Istanbul and Antalya are currently delivering the highest returns. No advertising, just numbers and my view from inside the market.

1 September was the best month of the year: 142,390 housing transactions, +11.8% compared to August.

2 Mortgages grew by 24.7% over 9 months: local demand, which underpins liquidity, is coming back.

3 In September, foreigners bought 2,167 apartments, which is +9.9% year over year and the highest of 2026.

4 In dollar terms, property rose over the year: Turkey +3.5%, Istanbul +7.3%, Antalya +1.6% for the region.

5 The best districts delivered up to +19% in dollar terms over the year: Üsküdar, Pendik, and Bakırköy in Istanbul, and Muratpaşa and Kepez in Antalya.

In January-September, 1,092,919 apartments and houses were sold in Turkey, 7.2% fewer than a year earlier. But look at what is inside that figure. Resale property is declining, while new builds are holding practically at 2025 levels and are already growing in September. Buyers are moving to new housing and urban renewal projects.

September was the best month of 2026: the market grew by 11.8% compared to August. And the most important figure in this table for me is mortgages: +24.7% over 9 months. Mortgages are taken out by Turkish families, and they make up more than 98% of all buyers. When local demand grows even with a key rate of 37%, it is the best signal for anyone who will later sell their apartment.

Over 9 months, foreigners bought 15,308 apartments, 4.3% fewer than last year. But September showed a turnaround: 2,167 purchases, +9.9% compared to September 2025 and the highest of 2026. This is the first noticeable rise in foreign demand this year.

The rest of the top ten are Ukraine, Iran, China, Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom, Palestine, and Afghanistan. China is growing the fastest. And note: Europeans from Germany are consistently in the top three. They buy slowly, and only after thoroughly vetting a country, and they choose Turkey.

But for me, what matters most here is not the 9-month total, but the direction. For the first time in several years, August showed year-over-year growth in sales to foreigners, albeit very small so far, +0.1%. And September already delivered almost +10% compared to September 2025. For me, this is clear proof that the stagnation in the Turkish market is over and a new phase of growth has begun. And not only among local buyers, but among foreigners as well.

In my experience, such cycles in the Turkish market last a long time, and the market will keep growing for the next 7-10 years. That is why now is the best time to enter the Turkish real estate market: at the very beginning of the upswing, before prices have risen significantly.

One more clarification: foreigners account for only 1.5% of the market, while prices and liquidity are shaped by local buyers. When both are growing, it is the strongest signal for an investor.

My Clients are interested not in growth in lira, but in what their apartment is worth in dollars. So I calculate it simply: I divide the 12-month price growth in lira by the dollar's growth over the same 12 months. According to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, the dollar was worth 41.85 lira on October 16, 2025 and 49.45 lira on October 16, 2026, meaning it rose by 18.15%.

The Central Bank calculates the index by region, so the Antalya figure also includes Isparta and Burdur, while Bodrum is grouped with Muğla Province, Aydın, and Denizli. Central districts of Antalya are growing noticeably faster than the regional average, as you can see in the district table below.

Sample calculation for Turkey: 1.223 / 1.1815 = 1.035, i.e. +3.5% in dollar terms. In other words, a Client who bought an apartment for dollars a year ago is in the black today, even without counting rental income. And rents for new tenants rose by 26.6% in lira over the year, which is roughly 7% in dollar terms.

I'll be honest about Bodrum, and I'll speak as an owner. I have a 2+1 apartment there with its own garden, which I bought on emotion: a beautiful complex, views, an attractive installment plan in lira. I didn't think through who my buyer would be, and now it has been on the market for almost a year without selling. Bodrum is wonderful for living and vacationing, but prices there are already high, and in dollar terms they have been flat for the year. It was precisely from mistakes like this of my own that I developed the 10 liquidity metrics the Company works with today.

The city-wide average tells an investor very little. The difference between districts of the same city can reach ten percentage points or more in dollar terms. Here are the districts where the Company operates.

I deliberately left two groups of districts out of the table. The first: districts of mass urban renewal in Istanbul (Zeytinburnu, Bahçelievler, Avcılar, and others): there, new buildings replacing demolished ones end up in the statistics, and the growth figures are inflated. The second: Esenyurt, Beylikdüzü, and Başakşehir. We do not take Clients there, because resale property prices there are falling.

My conclusion. For capital growth, today I would look at Pendik, Bakırköy, Ataşehir, Ümraniye, and Kartal in Istanbul: +14-19% in dollar terms over the year. In Antalya, Muratpaşa and Kepez, at about +12% in dollars, and Konyaaltı at +8%. Alanya is flat in dollar terms; I show it for vacation living and rentals, not for capital growth.

This matches my personal experience too. My apartment in central Antalya, in Konyaaltı, has risen in value by 25% over two years and is rented out with a yield of about 8%. My apartment in Istanbul, in Maltepe, has gained 15% in a year and a half and brings in about 7% a year.

Fall 2026 brought two changes that make buying property in Turkey even safer.

A separate word about citizenship. The government has seriously cracked down on fake valuations: 72 people have been detained and citizenship has been revoked from 6,134 people. For an honest buyer, this is good news: the Turkish passport is becoming more valuable and more reliable.

People often ask me whether it would be better to buy in Dubai. Here is a short comparison as of October 2026.

Turkey is the only one of the four countries where buying property grants citizenship, and entry into a residence permit here is about 2.7 times cheaper than in Dubai. I'll be honest about the downsides too: Dubai has no tax on rental income or property, and the dirham is pegged to the dollar. But prices there have been falling over the year, while in Turkey they are rising even in dollar terms.

1 The market is coming out of its pause. September was the best month of the year, mortgages +24.7%, and a rate cut will bring even more local buyers.

2 Foreigners are coming back. +9.9% in September, the highest of 2026.

3 Property is rising in dollar terms. Turkey +3.5%, Istanbul +7.3%, Antalya +1.6% for the region, and the best districts up to +19%. Plus rents, which are also rising faster than the dollar.

4 It's the district and the property that matter, not the city. Within the same Istanbul, Üsküdar delivered +19.8% in dollar terms, while resale property in Esenyurt is getting cheaper. That is exactly why we run every property through 10 liquidity metrics.

5 Buying will become safer. Starting December 1, transaction funds go through the secure payment system.

My opinion: now is the time to choose, not to wait. When the rate goes down and local buyers return en masse, the best properties in liquid districts will be snapped up first.

According to TÜİK, 1,092,919 apartments and houses were sold in January-September 2026, 7.2% fewer than a year earlier. Mortgage transactions, meanwhile, increased by 24.7%.

15,308 apartments over 9 months, 2,167 in September (+9.9% year over year). Most purchases are made by citizens of Russia, Iraq, and Germany.

Yes. Over 12 months, prices in lira rose by 22.3%, while the dollar rose by 18.15%. In dollar terms, that is +3.5% across Turkey, +7.3% in Istanbul, and +1.6% in the Antalya region (central districts up to +12%).

Of the districts where the Company operates, the fastest growth is in Üsküdar, Küçükçekmece, Pendik, and Bakırköy: from +16% to +20% in dollar terms over the year.

In my view, yes, if you choose a liquid property. Mortgages are growing, foreigners are coming back, the interest rate is heading down, and from December 1 transactions will become safer.

In the first 9 months of 2026, the Company closed twice as many deals as a year earlier, even though the foreign buyer market shrank over the same period. I believe this is the best proof that Clients trust numbers, not advertising.

Sergei Dubinets - founder and CEO of DDA Real Estate Turkey, licensed broker, economist. He has lived and worked in Turkey since 2020 and has been in real estate and real estate law since 2007. He invests in Turkish property himself and splits his time between two cities, Antalya and Istanbul. ddakey.com