Price of Property in Turkiye and Dalyan

Dalyan has been growing year by year in the last couple of decades. The range of property available goes from stand alone bespoke villas, 4, 5 and even 6 bedrooms to smaller villas on complexes with a shared pool and apartments, usually on similar complexes. World recession hit in 2008 but prior to that, there had been quite a growth in those bespoke villas with plenty of land still available within the “village plan.”

At that time, there was no provision for mortgages within Turkiye so buyers had to pay cash, get military permission for the purchase and get their name (s) put on to a deed of ownership, the tapu. An act in the Turkish parliament made mortgages available in the hope that there would be more home ownership among ordinary locals. Just a short distance from Dalyan, the town of Ortaca suddenly had numerous high apartment blocks being constructed. Incidentally, such blocks are not permitted in Dalyan where nothing can be more than 2 storeys high.

Inflation has been a factor in Turkiye for a few years now but the inflation in property prices was more a factor of people from Turkiye’s large cities such as Istanbul and Ankara discovering wonderful Dalyan at a time when Covid had made city life less attractive. Add to that the fact that land supply became more limited, and the laws of supply and demand clicked in. While in many cases, their purchases were as second homes, their spending power increased demand. At holiday times, you will see an influx of cars from Istanbul (34), Ankara (6) and the like. Mugla’s registration number that you will see all the time is 48.

Some ex-pats bought property in which to live, others looked at rental investment. Locally registered hotels found competition from villas that could comfortably host 2 families on holiday and questioned whether it was fair for these villas to take business without an obligation to pay tax. That has recently been addressed with every villa intending to rent, even to friends, needing to register. The reason for mentioning this is that the result has been that prices are no longer rising, and more property is coming on to the market and previous “renters” are less than happy with the restrictions placed upon them.

When it comes to prices, it is difficult to generalise except there are neighbourhoods that have always been more popular than others. Maras has always been in demand while the parts of Gulpinar closest to the centre may result in a like for like property being slightly more expensive than one further out of town.

Property on complexes is obviously cheaper and there are regulations regarding how a complex is administered, whether villas or apartments. A good emlak, King Emlak, always ensures that customers know even the fine detail when it comes to dealing with a prospective buyer.

To summarise, no one can expect to get the price that their property might have achieved a couple of years ago. The strict rules on registering if you wish to rent out your property, the fact that residency has become more difficult to obtain and the increased cost of borrowing has meant supply is exceeding demand once more. Time for a bargain then?