18 November 2008 | Despite the financial crisis, demand for property is increasing in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, experts claim.

One of the reasons for the growing interest in real estate is that the city will hold the European Capital of Culture title for 2010, according to Ozgül Ozkan Yavuz, director of events and organisations for Istanbul 2010, quoted by the propertyshowrooms.com website.

“In the last five years, Istanbul is growing a lot in terms of tourism,” she explained, noting that the city is seeing a 19 per cent yearly increase in the number of tourists visiting the area.

The number of foreigners who visited Turkey between January and September of this year reached 21.5 million, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently told media, and about a quarter of them chose Istanbul as their destination.

The total number of visitors to Istanbul for the first 10 months of 2008 reached 6,080,000, from which 890,000 were German, 363,000 were Russian , 313,000 – British, 311,000 – American and 301,000 were Italian.

Other reasons for the growth in property demand not just in Istanbul but in Turkey as a whole is the improved access that foreigners have to the country, combined with the lower prices.

This is true especially for Britons, who see Turkey as being cheaper than destinations such as Spain or Portugal, while new airports around the country will provide improved access with direct flights to and from the UK, according to the propertyshowrooms.com website.

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