According to Turkey property specialist Spot Blue International Property, villages around Fethiye, a colourful town on Turkey's Mediterranean Coast with a historic harbour and mountainous backdrop, are becoming popular places for British and other foreign buyers.
They are particularly attracted by plots with idyllic views and see it as an opportunity to build new homes for their retirement. Typically, such buyers have owned a holiday home closer to the centre of Fethiye but when looking for a permanent residence are attracted to villages on the edge of the resort, such as Çiftlik, Üzümlü, Hisarönü and Kemer.
‘Buyers coming to us in search of a plot often already own a holiday home in Fethiye, with the Calis Beach area being especially popular. For a residential home though, most prefer to be inland or in quieter areas and Fethiye has so much to offer in this respect,’ said Spot Blue director Julian Walker.
‘The great thing about the resort is how accessible it is from the surrounding communities, while the infrastructure upgrades that the municipality is undergoing are making the whole area even more attractive,’ he added.
An example is Chris and Sandra McGown from Dorset who have plans to build a home in Çiftlik on a plot they are in the process of purchasing through Spot Blue. The couple, who are retired and have a son and a daughter, are also using Spot Blue to sell their two bedroom holiday apartment in Calis Beach, which they bought nine years ago and have used for numerous family holidays.
‘We've paid a deposit on an 840 square metre plot which used to be part of a farm in Çiftlik. We've agreed a price of £51,000 for the property and meanwhile we're selling our apartment in Calis, the proceeds of which we'll put towards our new home,’ said Chris McGown.
‘Çiftlik is in a lovely spot, slightly elevated and with views of Fethiye Bay and the mountains. It's up and coming. A wealthy Turk has built a huge bungalow on the neighbouring plot to ours and people from Istanbul are buying there,’ he added.
The McGowns plan to build a detached three storey villa on their plot, with three or four bedrooms and a private pool. Their intention is to have construction underway by the summer.
Since the 1990s the McGowns have visited a selection of Turkish resorts, but prefer Fethiye to all others. ‘Fethiye has a different feel to it, thanks to being an authentic working town as well as a friendly tourist resort, and there is plenty to visit around it, including the stunning lagoon at Ölüdeniz. In recent years the municipality has spent money hand over fist upgrading the infrastructure and it's improved vastly since we've been going
there,’ added McGowan.
Meanwhile, according to Istanbul based agents Universal21 the city has offered property investors the best capital growth in Europe for most of the past three years. ‘Major global brands such as the Hilton have recently opened flagship hotels in previously unfashionable areas of the city which are now seeing a ripple effect as the overall population increases. People are moving beyond central areas as the price of property in these areas moves out of reach,’ said managing director Adil Yaman.
‘From an investment point of view, a city that is home to more than 13 million people with living standards rising by the year is the stuff of dreams. More people living in the cities of Turkey means more demand for property in desirable areas of those cities and suburban areas when the inner cities become crowded,’ he explained.
European statistics agency Euromonitor predicted that the Istanbul metropolitan area will become Europe's most populous between 2017 and 2018. Other cities such as Bursa and Konya are also expected to see significant population growth.
‘The reality is Istanbul needs more housing and further construction to meet that demand. If anything the fall in the lira has made Istanbul even more appealing to the foreign investors who support a large part of the current construction boom and are prepared to gamble with stronger currencies such as the pound and the dollar,’ added Yaman.
