The return of Syrians who took refuge in Turkey during the civil war in their country after the overthrow of the 61-year-old Baath regime is expected to have a positive impact on rental prices in Turkey.
Experts made evaluations to the AA correspondent regarding the impact of the return of Syrians, whose number is approximately 3 million and under temporary protection in Turkey, on the prices of rental and sale housing.
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) Real Estate Services Professional Committee Chairman Hakan Akdoğan said that the return of Syrians will have a positive contribution, especially to rental prices.
Akdoğan said, “The imbalance of supply and demand, especially on the rental housing side, was increasing the prices. The high demand had a serious negative impact on the prices and increased the rents. Our rental supply is low, but the demand is very lively and constantly increasing. This increases the prices and strengthens the hands of the homeowners and conditions. “It also makes it harder for the tenant.” he said.
Expressing that the supply of rental housing will increase thanks to the houses to be vacated by Syrians, Akdoğan said:
“I think that property owners will not be able to offer harsh conditions for the quick rental of vacant houses. Syrian immigrants were concentrated in certain regions. We think that rental prices will normalize and remain stable for a while, especially in those regions. However, this will not be valid for every place. It will especially be in regions where Syrians live densely. “Serious options and alternatives will emerge for our own citizens. Accessing and renting a house will become a little easier.”
“IT MAY PARTIALLY REDUCE RENTAL PRICES”
Nizameddin Asha, President of the Istanbul Chamber of Realtors, stated that there are a significant number of Syrians in Istanbul and said, “One of the main reasons for the increase in housing rents was immigrants and refugees. Especially when several families came together, they could pay high rents. For this reason, the rents in the region were increasing. Now, there is a serious situation in Syria.” “It is stated that there will be a return. This may partially reduce rental prices and prevent them from increasing for a while.” he said.
However, stating that the possible decrease in rents or the increase in the rental housing supply will take time, Asha said, “I do not expect it to happen in the short term. It will have a serious positive impact on the real estate market, but it will happen after a certain time.” he said.
“RENTS WILL REMAIN STABLE FOR A WHILE, THEY WILL NOT INCREASE”
İsmail Özcan, President of the Association of Real Estate Marketing and Sales Professionals (GAPAS), noted that it is too early to talk about whether rents will decrease or not and made the following evaluations:
“It is stated that there are around 3 million Syrians in Turkey. We do not know what kind of order will be there, will the Syrians return, how many of them will return? Considering that 3 million Syrians in Turkey live in an average of 600 thousand houses, we can accept that half or nearly half of them are in Istanbul If we do so, we can say that Syrians are living in 300 thousand residences in the megacity. If all Syrians return, there will be a significant number of empty apartments, which will eliminate the supply problem for a while, especially in places where Syrians live. “However, it is stated that 1.5-2 million of them will return. This will have a positive impact especially on rental housing. Since the supply is tight, there will be no immediate decrease in rents, but rents will remain stable for a while and will not increase.”
