Prices were up 1.36% in Adana, 0.47% in Ankara, 0.55% in Istanbul, 0.09% in Izmir and 0.94% in Kocaeli and were down 1.5% in Antalya and 0.43% in Bursa, the REIDIN Turkey Residential Property Price Indices (TRPPI) shows.
It is designed to be a reliable and consistent benchmark of property prices in Turkey and looks at the real estate market in seven key cities.
Rental prices were also up in five cities in December, increasing 0.30% in Adana, 0.26% in Antalya, 0.58% in Istanbul, 0.83% in Izmir and 0.23% in Kocaeli, and falling 0.47% in Ankara and 1.33% in Bursa.
The news comes as the economy in Turkey is predicted to do better than forecast. Jim O’Neill, the Goldman Sach’s economist, who first coined investment category term “BRIC” (Brazil, Russia, India and China) has forecasted that Turkey and Indonesia will grow beyond expectations.
Due to Turkey’s recent economic performance O’Neill has put Turkey among the N-11 group, which is another term like the BRIC used to define economies with high potential.
And figures show that despite the economic downturn Turkey has continued to attract overseas visitors. Some 28 million foreign visitors went to Turkey in 2010, an increase of over 5% compared to 2009.
In the most recent Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED) annual tourism report, president Ahmet Barut said that in 2011 total tourism revenue is expected to reach US$25 billion with 31 million visitors.
Turkey is on the way to becoming one of the top tourist destinations and is currently ranking as seventh in terms of visitors numbers in the world. The tourism sector in Turkey has grown nearly 16% in the last three years whereas the more traditional destinations of Spain and France have contracted by a similar amount.
