A thriving tourism industry and the prospect of Turkey beginning accession negotiations with the EU early in 2005 are fuelling a property boom along the country’s southern coast. With prices lower than elsewhere in the Mediterranean, many foreigners still look for properties close to the main tourist resorts of Bodrum, Marmaris and Alanya, but a growing number of Britons are drawn to secluded beauty spots such as the former fishing village of Kas.
Perched on a thin sliver of land between the sea and 500m-high mountains, Kas has been spared the concrete and crowds of mass tourism because of a lack of space to expand and the three-hour drive from the nearest airport at Dalaman.
“In August 2001, we bought a cheap flight on the internet, went to Kas for a week and came away with a carpet and a villa,” says Nicholas Waters, a 37-year-old theatre producer from London. He and his girlfriend, Amanda Humphrey, a 42-year-old actress and events manager, bought a four- bedroom villa on the Cukurbag Peninsula, five minutes’ drive from Kas, together with a friend, David Coupe.
“There had been a financial meltdown earlier in 2001, and a lot of people were looking to off-load property. It was a buyers’ market,” says Waters. “At that time, villas were going for £70,000-£80,000 — we bought ours for £75,000. It’s an older villa, built by Turkish people for their own use, with sea access and a shared swimming pool. We had to have it rewired. Some agents would probably say that it’s now worth £150,000-£160,000. I’m slightly sceptical about that, but it has probably doubled in price.
“We bought it with a view to an investment, to use ourselves and to rent. We stay there for about six weeks every year, and the renting is just to ensure that it is used and to cover our running costs,” says Waters. He and Humphrey are now buying the villa next door.
“This is still virgin territory,” says Hakan Akalin of Turkuaz Emlak, one of a handful of registered real-estate offices in Kas. “Prices are very cheap compared with elsewhere in Europe. Most clients are looking for a place in the sun, but they also want an investment. At the moment, properties are appreciating by an average of 20%-25% per year.”
Akalin estimates the average price of a villa ranges from £80,000 to £180,000, depending on size and whether the property has its own or a shared swimming pool. A two-bedroom apartment costs between £40,000 and £90,000.
“If people don’t want to use their property, then they can rent it out,” says Akalin. “A villa brings in £500-£700 a week on average. There are companies that will handle the renting in return for 15%-20% commission. There are also management companies that will look after the property while the owners are abroad: pay the bills, visit regularly, things like that.”
But, Akalin warns, potential buyers should ensure they have all the necessary paperwork before purchasing. The most important are the title deeds and, if the property is in a town, a building permit from the municipality. About a third of the properties in the Kas area don’t have title deeds, either because they were lost, or because they have been illegally built on government land or in a protected area. Enforcement of laws and regulations in Turkey is often erratic. Many Turks occupy properties for generations without owning the title deeds, while others, particularly those who have built in protected areas, have been taken to court and evicted without any compensation.
According to one local government official: “It’s very risky to buy properties without title deeds. The price might look good and, in practice, you might get away with it, at least for a time. You may even have signed a contract with the seller. But, if you don’t have the title deeds, you could lose everything.”
Provided that the property has title deeds and — where necessary — a building permit, the purchase tends to be relatively straightforward, but foreigners are advised to hire a lawyer or reputable estate agent to handle the bureaucratic procedures. Turkey and the UK have signed a reciprocal agreement allowing citizens of one country to buy property in the other.
In Turkey, however, purchases of real estate by foreigners have to be approved by the Turkish military, which has to certify that it isn’t in or adjacent to a militarily sensitive area. Receiving military approval can add up to eight weeks to the buying process.
Some foreigners use a trusted estate agent to handle the actual purchase or grant power of attorney to a Turkish lawyer. For payment of the purchase price, most buyers open an account in a Turkish bank in pounds or euros, then transfer the money from their home countries. The agent receives a commission of 3% of the purchase price from both the buyer and the seller. Stamp duties, wealth and purchase taxes also come to 3%, split between the buyer and seller (1.5% each).
