When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Turkey

Florida Of Europe? As Crisis Deepens, Euro Zone Retirees Look To Turkey

The euro zone’s lingering economic woes and ends to buying restrictions are making Turkey suddenly look like the place to be – especially for Western European retirees. Vacation homes go for as little as 130,000 euros. Pool included.

Easy going in Alanya (ozgurmulazimoglu)
Easy going in Alanya (ozgurmulazimoglu)

By Richard Haimann

DIE WELT/Worldcrunch

Apartments can be had starting at just 40,000 euros. And for 130,000 euros, a house with a pool. Thanks to its low real estate prices and living costs, Turkey is becoming exceptionally attractive for western European retirees who are afraid of the dwindling purchasing power of their pensions.

The euro crisis has German seniors seeking Turkey out as a safe haven. Ever more of them are buying inexpensive real estate there as a second or permanent home, according to Hans-Rainer Lindner, a partner in the German company Türkei-Objekte, which specializes in "dream properties in Turkey."

In Alanya, Turkey, Ibrahim Fide, owner of the Prima real estate company says the "typical German customer is over 60." Apartments on the Turkish Mediterranean coast that are available for the equivalent of 40,000 euros are new, two-room flats. Houses for 130,000 euros are free-standing, with 120 square meters of living space, terrace, garden, and swimming pool.

Living expenses including food are so low that "three kilos of tomatoes cost 80 euro cents," says Lindner. "A German couple could live comfortably in Turkey on 700 euros a month."

That makes the country very interesting to all those who fear the euro crisis is going to send prices shooting sky-high, and leave them with a pension that won't be sufficient.

Dwindling buying power

Turkey is not, however, immune to the turbulence of capital markets. Rising oil prices are driving up living costs. In its latest forecast, the Turkish Central Bank predicts a rise of 7.62% this year. Most affected would be the prices of electricity, oil, but also food.

Since the euro crisis started becoming increasingly critical last year, the euro has fallen against the Turkish lira. In the summer of 2011, one euro bought 2.55 lira: now it's only 2.32 lira. That means the buying power of the euro in Turkey has gone down by 9% within nine months.

This is due on the one hand to the fact that many Turks working in euro zone countries have transferred their savings back home to protect them from the turmoil of the crisis. Another factor is that Turkey's robust economy is increasingly drawing companies from the euro countries.

Automobile and machinery manufacturers, IT companies, and various providers from Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands have either set up in the country or have made production deals with Turkish companies. That fuels demand for liras.

"At the same time, you're seeing increased demand for real estate in Turkey," says Lindner. According to the Central Bank in Ankara, the Turkish economy grew by 7.5% in 2011. The Turkish Statistical Institute says that unemployment rates fell from 15% to 10.2% in 2011.

"A large middle class is in the process of growing in Turkey, and its members want to fulfill their dreams of owning their own home," Lindner says. "That means that in the next few years prices of apartments and houses are slowly but surely going to climb."

Expect more foreign property buyers

New laws intended to open the Turkish property market up to foreign buyers should further energize the market. Until now, only citizens of countries that allow Turkish citizens to buy property in their country have been allowed to buy land, apartments or houses in Turkey. The E.U. countries do permit this – but not the super-rich Persian Gulf countries.

The new Turkish law is expected to come into effect in September. Also to be lifted are the size limits for properties bought by foreigners; under the new laws, it will be possible for foreign buyers to purchase surfaces of up to 30 hectares without seeking special permission.

This will enliven Turkey's real estate market considerably, agents believe. "There will be a lot of buyers, particularly from the Gulf region," says Feyzullah Yetgin, general manager of Calik Real Estate. "Demand could rise significantly very soon," Prima owner Fide agrees.

A first wave of interest in Turkish properties began in 1997 in Germany, Great Britain, Austria and the Netherlands. More recently, buyers have benefitted from the wake of the financial crisis as many British home owners have been selling. To reduce the loans on their books, many banks in Britain froze loans for holiday homes, so during 2009 and 2010 many British owners were forced to sell, which brought prices down.

Last year, however, the market rose again. According to Turkish Statistical Institute figures, in the fourth quarter of 2011, real estate sales rose 21.8% as compared the same period the previous year.

"Anybody who's toying with the idea of buying a holiday property or a main home in Turkey should start researching the market right now," says Türkei-Objekte's Lindner.

Read the original story in German

Photo - ozgurmulazimoglu

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

Journalist Spy, Subversive 13-Year-Old: Law And Order In Totalitarian Russia

Even beyond the bloodshed of its war in Ukraine, lesser acts of aggression by the state are a clear expression of the intentions of Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Photo of an anti-war drawing by a 13-year-old girl

Incriminated drawing by Maria, 13

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

They are "minor” incidents compared to the bloody frontline near Bakhmut, or the missiles raining down on Ukrainian cities. But these same incidents say a lot about what is going on in Russian society, behind the relatively normal facade that has been preserved for a year.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

Two arrests occurred Thursday, one of a Russian citizen whose story is one of aberrant cruelty; the other of an American journalist turned hostage in the proxy confrontation between Moscow and Washington.

Aleksei Moskalyov is a single father of a 13-year-old girl, Maria, a status which is in itself considered abnormal in Russian society. But above all, Maria was taken away from her father and placed in an orphanage for having drawn an anti-war picture at school. Her own teacher reported her to the authorities.

The father was sentenced to two years in prison for having criticized the Russian army. He fled, but was arrested in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, probably betrayed by the activation of his cell phone. He risks an even harsher sentence, and likely will not see his daughter again for years.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest