As well as Turkey’s nature, climate, cultural, historical and tourist sites, most particularly the prominent quality of the health infrastructure investments in the post-pandemic times has been an effective factor for Europeans to turn their steps towards Turkey recently for living and buying a house for retirement. European real estate buyers who buy properties in Turkey’s cities in the West and South coasts are interested especially in Antalya. The member companies of Real Estate International Promotion Association, that operate in Antalya, the second city after Istanbul where the most property sales are made, state that European real estate buyers are interested in branded projects and long-term stays have increased after the pandemic.

They prefer ‘branded project’ for investment
Considering that buying real estate abroad is a luxury need, we receive demands from countries with high per capita household income such as England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. The common feature of the countries is that they are relatively cold and rainy compared to Mediterranean countries. We have started to receive demands from the Balkan and Eastern European countries, which have recently become richer. We see two different main purposes in European buyers. While some of them buy residences on the southern beaches to spend their holidays, some of them buy flats in big cities, especially in Istanbul, for investment. It is not critical that the real estate is a second-hand or new project for vacationers, while those who buy real estate for investment prefer a “branded project”.
With the development of relations with the European Union and the positive atmosphere, it is obvious that we will receive a demand many times more than we get today. There are many people who know Turkey and spend their holidays in our country. A person who visits our country once as a tourist gets rid of all the negative thoughts in his mind and loves our country and our people. Nobody thinks about buying real estate from a country whose people he/she doesn’t like. The people we sell real estate to are Europeans that are friends of our country. We still continue to sell as our customers who visit and experience Turkey are really happy.

Long-term stays increased in the pandemic
We are delighted that the declining demand in the European market in recent years has reversed in the last two years. Investors from these countries were added to our expatriates of Turkish origin from countries such as England, Germany and Sweden. European investors are mostly in the middle age group and prefer small houses such as 1 + 1 or 2 + 1 with social facilities as they use their guests for holiday purposes. In previous years, they increased their stay for three to four weeks during a calendar year during the pandemic period and made longer-term stays. At the same time, they had the opportunity to travel outside the province they resided in and get to know their immediate surroundings. We foresee a growth of 25-30% in foreign sales compared to last year. First of all, the successful exam given by our health sector during the pandemic period was appreciated all over the world. The long summer season in our region and the mild winter months reduce the risk of disease because people spend most of their time outside instead of closed areas. Turkey will rank higher in the investment preferences of Europeans with all these advantages.

Our infrastructure in healthcare attracts Europeans
In our investments in the central districts of Antalya, we sell to customers from many regions of Europe. In recent years, we have experienced a serious increase in the demand of European Union citizens of Middle Eastern origin from Northern Europe, Germany and England to our region. In Antalya, one of the most important locations in Turkey Tourism, customers who purchase housing in the past years with holiday purposes now act with a perception caring investment, the social environment and the location of our country. They are interested in projects in compounds with high social facilities and security. Our region, with its cultural and social proximity to the Middle East and its modern life and business climate, creates the idea of a second living space for many Middle Eastern-origin European Union citizens in Europe. With this understanding, in recent years, many people have raised their investment level by purchasing housing, commercial areas or land, and have confidently transferred their investments to our region by requesting citizenship through real estate purchases. We think that our healthcare infrastructure, which is more developed in the field of health, compared to many European countries, will provide much more benefit for us in 2021.