Property prices in Istanbul

Dear Ms. Priscilla,
thanks for Istanbul Inq.
All Properties rental rates are depend on area in Istanbul,
pls tell me how would you like to live as a student, alone or with family temporarily, permit. where will you come from
my palce is  recommend with family area all are closed with big&small mall & transport available.

pls get me in my whatsapp : *** and my skype ID : ***

lots of point have to discuss to better know and understand  ISTANBUL.

BR.
MUHAMMAD ASHFAQ PUNJANI

Hi Priscilla,

In last years the real estate prices have rocketed. The issues you consider when choosing where to live in Istanbul is a safety of an area, prices, closeness to public transport, especially metro or ferry as traffic is typical in Istanbul.

There are many most desired places to live in Istanbul. Istanbul is very very big and desirable places are not cheap. Affordability depends on the earnings. I would say that 1600 Turkish lira is an average rental price for an apartment (not house) and it differs greatly from more central places to places that are harder to reach.

If you rent a house, you don't pay a tax for rental, as far as I know. The flat owner does. You pay different taxes when you buy an apartment, sell an apartment, own it (such as insurance against earthquake).

I live in Asian side, I would recommend this side of Istanbul.

Hello,
I have been living in Istanbul for the last 20 years on and off. PelinaBY made great and clear comments to your question. What more I can add is about the new building trends and urban transformation by which some parts of the city are under great construction. VEry high tower like buildings are being constructed. This also affects the house prices. The choice of place is, in this sense, important when renting or buying a flat.

On both sides of the city, there are a few places which are good to live as well as places which are not easy to afford.  In affordable nice places  such as Kadıkoy, Besiktas, Ortakoy, Beykoz, Sarıyer, Istinye, Bakırkoy, Atasehir which are within easy reach to public transportation,  an average  1 bedroom flat is 700 dollars, 2bedroom flat is 800 dollars. There are of course cheaper ones but not easy to find better prices. If you a little bit reduce your expectation from the neighborhood but still liveable, the prices may go %20 down.

For buying, again depending on the neighborhood along with other advantages of the region, house prices (if you are not really wealthy)  are between 100 thousand and  500 thousand dollars excluding the A+++ prices ( 1 million to ..... millionssssss)

Hope it helps.
Enjoy here.

Hi Priscilla,

When I first moved here 3 years ago I found it very confusing to decide where to live and invest in Istanbul. The first thing I did was to look on the map and see what areas met the usual indicators of a great place to invest and live in. I then looked on the on-line property search websites to see what was within budget. What I found is that property prices in Istanbul don't follow the norm in other countries and so there are some real opportunities to be had!!

I looked for the following in my searches:
Close to public transport
Good road connectivity
Good local conveniences
Hospitals, schools, universities nearby
Good demographic (education, age, crime rate etc.)
Up coming development projects in or around the area
Points of interest, historical or otherwise that tourists and ex-pats may find of interest

Using these criteria in central Istanbul both on the Asian and European side I short listed a neighbourhood in each.

Uskudar and Kasimpasa

Locals and some expats who live here may not understand those choices But I've done the research and put my own money down.  I doubled if not tripled the value of the property I bought in 2 years. In 3 more years I can only wonder how much it will be worth. If you would like to follow my model, buy a historical building that's dilapidated (and relatively cheap), do it up and sell it tax free after 5 years. 


Both areas have their own charm and both are/were under-developed and still have a lot of room for improvement but the rejuvenation in both has started.

Locals consider Uskudar as a conservative neighbourhood (no-alcohol and relatively religious), however statistically it is full of young highly educated people. It has the highest density of educated people in all of Istanbul. Students like to rent and live around there as it is close to their universities, easy to get around, cheap and a relatively short distance to the night-life (closest found in Kadikoy 10min away).  Once they start working, they invest in apartments there so it's already growing.
Happening now there is a major project under-way to improve and enlarge the ferry terminal and square surrounded by some extremely beautiful Mimar Sinan mosques. It is on the Marmaray rail linking the Asian side to the European side so it has excellent connectivity by Metro already. It also has excellent bus connectivity. There are passenger ferries and it has excellent road connectivity although currently traffic can be terrible at rush hours. The new Terminal will alleviate this somewhat.  Bars are still not found here, although if you are willing to wait 10 years or so it is inevitable and I'm sure this will become one of the most sort after districts in Istanbul. You could be in for major returns especially if you have a sea view property and private parking. Views are spectacular here.

I didn't buy there.

I chose Kasimpasa.  I have bought two properties here and have lived here for 3 years. I'm extremely happy that I did and wish I had more to invest. It's great, unbelievably practical and on the border of two lifestyles. On one side there is Istiklal, Galata, Pera and all the Hedonist delights and in Kasimpasa you have a residential family orientated old neighbourhood with great local amenities, parks, play-grounds, hospitals, sport centres and local markets.  It has that feel of a small town within the city that you get with the old neighbourhoods in Istanbul.  It's less conservative but more family -orientated. The locals don't look down on you if you drink alcohol (there's local beerhanes/beer halls and plenty of shops to buy alcohol) or wear a short skirt if your a woman, as there are locals here who do the same.  It's a mix of secular and conservative.  For me that's excellent.  Road connectivity is excellent to get just about anywhere, public transport although not as good as Uskudar is also excellent. With the projects they have planned for the area I believe in the next 10 years that it will get even better.
Unfortunately, many people confuse and associate Tarlabasi with Kasimpasa. Tarlabasi is the next neighbourhood along if you go towards Taksim and Tarlabasi is still a bit sketchy especially at night. It is not somewhere I'd like to live although it does have some beautiful buildings.  Kasimpasa does have an old reputation for being a bit rough but that is by people who don't know the area or who know it from 15 years ago or more. Galata and Karakoy also had bad reputations and more deservedly so. Now their prices have boomed and the neighbourhoods have completely changed. Kasimpasa doesn't deserve the reputation, it's already safe, it just hasn't been gentrified yet. It's the neighbourhood where Erdogan Spent his youth as a young man and so he has a personal and vested interest in it's development and well being.

For around here, look for sea-views again or properties with another point of interest. Gardens, views of a historical building or simple local charm. You can find all of the above if you're proactive and do some leg work exploring the neighbourhood. Not all that is for sale is advertised, inquiries can be made by local borne estate agents into almost any building to entice the residents. I bought from Ethem Bey at Yilmaz Emlak on Tepebasi Cd. this way. I looked at a great apartment with sea views and turned around and asked about the building. I think it also helped me keep the price lower than it would have been had a I walked in asking to buy a building It's a good idea to know the area by first exploring on Google street view or Yandex.  Both are outdated by about 5 years and the area does look better than it does there, at least on the most part.

For areas within Kasimpasa don't look more 15min walk from Sishane Metro.  The roads  around Aynale Cesme Sk (Yahya Kahya Mh.) and Tepebasi Cd. (Next to Asmali Mescit) are already getting popular with expats.  Do look around Bedrettin Mh.. It's right next to an Exit of Sishane metro, has a small park nearby, modern 1000 car capacity secure underground carpark and you can find lovely old buildings in need of restoration. There are major developments coming.  An overland rail project (Havaray) that will remove the minibus stop by Bedrettin Cami will see the prices around there rocket up.   The neighbourhood is very, practical and just 450m away from Istiklal and the Galata tower. It's quite peaceful being full of blue collar families and it's just 200m from a Police station so extremely safe. Invest here and you will easily double your money even if you just sit on it and don't do anything but the returns are much higher if you restore the place.

You can pick up a small but charming house on Tarihi Sk for 5 or 600.000Tl (advertised price may be more).  That is extremely good value. They have a view of the sea on the top floor. Normally a decent house will not be less than 1 or 2.000.000 Tl like those closer to the Metro but these are small and have an unusual Tapu/land registry  (instead of having their own Tapu they're defined as percentage of a larger plot, although clearly marked where and how much I think this has put off investors as it's unusual). There's few buyers right now so a smart investor has great opportunity here. They want to sell and retire. If you have enough, buy several of these neighbouring houses so you can make yourself even more. Bare in mind with the new Turquoise card (work and residency permit) property investors with investments of $1,000,000 or over can qualify. Aim to sell at this minimum price bracket for the best returns.
If you have less money to invest but are willing to invest long term, have a look at Kaptanpasa further along the coast near the Koc Museum.

Piyalepasa development has started (Mall, Office and residential spaces which could be good to invest in their own right if you want to buy off plan) plus the entire coastline on both sides have more major developments planned. Please just google what the many plans that there are for Istanbul and dig deeper with searches using Turkish phrases.

For those of you wondering why I am writing all of this, it's because I wish someone had told me this and saved me some time searching but also because the more people who learn and invest in my area, the better I and the neighbourhood will do. Property investors gain from other property investors developing in the same area. We should help each other.

Good luck!

We are a real estate agent that deal with both - sales and rentals. Can I advertise our services here on the forum? If so, please advise of the procedure.

Regards,

Maksym

You can register your business in the directory section. That will be helpful.
Good luck

Yavorskyi wrote:

We are a real estate agent that deal with both - sales and rentals. Can I advertise our services here on the forum? If so, please advise of the procedure.

Regards,

Maksym

Hi everyone,

@ Maksym > follow the advice of Xeeschan to register your business and do not hesitate to contact the marketing team if you want to advertise your services.

- Marketing department


Regards,

Sarvesh
https://www.expat.com team