Richard Three Turkish cities are among the world’s 20 highest performing cities in terms of house price growth, including Istanbul ranked third, according to a new report by a leading international real estate consultancy.
Property prices in Istanbul grew by 25 per cent between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015, according to the recently released ‘Global Residential Cities Index’ by Knight Frank, which covers 165 cities around the world. Only Auckland and Shenzhen in China were ahead of Turkey’s largest city, with prices in each growing 25.4 per cent and 47.5 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, Izmir achieved sixth place, with house price growth of 16.5 per cent, and Ankara was in 13th position, with growth of 12.4 per cent. By comparison, London was behind all three Turkish cities, ranked 16th with growth of 11.4 per cent.
The region with the highest rate of growth was the Middle East (12.4 per cent), followed by Africa (8.8 per cent), while Europe was seventh (2.9 per cent). The average price rise across all 165 cities was 4.4 per cent, with prices in more than 121 either rising or remaining flat between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015.
Urban and rural housing markets are increasingly polarised when it comes to price performance. According to the World Bank, 54% of the world’s population currently lives in cities, and by 2045 the urban population will rise by another two billion to six billion, suggesting the pressure on urban prices looks set to intensify. This bodes well for Istanbul and Turkey’s other growing cities, where growing middle classes and easier access to mortgages are maintaining growth in the property market.
