Real estate agents say a growing number of people from the Balkans are snapping up holiday homes and offices in Turkey, taking advantage of the weak lira.
Sarajevo real estate agent Minet Music won’t disclose exactly how many properties he has sold in Turkey to buyers from the Balkans, but it’s a lot, Balkan Insight reports.
“I can tell you that I go to Turkey at least twice a week for paperwork and sales agreements for citizens of the Balkans and members of the Balkan diaspora living in Europe and the US,” said Music, owner of MM Real Estate Company in the Bosnian capital and the official Balkans rep of Turkish Sinpas GYO Real Estate.
“The Turkish lira has weakened in recent years, so buying high-quality houses in Istanbul or Alanya [on the Turkish Mediterranean coast] is now cheaper than buying a house in Sarajevo or Belgrade.”
According to official data, foreigners bought some 14,000 residential properties in Turkey in the first four months of 2021, a more than fourfold increase on the same period of 2020. While there is no official data on how many of the buyers are from the Balkans, industry insiders say interest among people from the Balkans for Turkish real estate is growing.
“Every year we sell around 90 residential properties to Balkan citizens, mostly in Antalya, Bodrum, Fethiye, and Alanya and the demand is increasing every day,” said Hatidza Ahatovic, a sales manager at Capitol Real Estate Firm in Alanya, referring to some of Turkey’s most popular tourist resorts.
