A total of 220,771 houses are currently up for sale in İstanbul, one of the world’s fastest growing property markets, with 347,702 already sold in the last one-and-a-half years.
According to the state-run Anadolu news agency, real estate brokerage Endeksa indicates that 238,383 houses were sold last year and that 109,319 changed hands in the first half of this year.
Esenyurt comes in first with 32,648 properties for sale, followed by Başakşehir with 11,660, Küçükçekmece with 10,862 and Pendik is with 10,117 houses to be sold.
The following municipalities each have more than 5,000 ready-to-be-sold residences:
Sancaktepe, with 9,760 houses for sale; Beylikdüzü, 9,381; Kadıköy, 8,913; Maltepe, 8,827; Ümraniye, 7,884; Bahçelievler, 7,030; Tuzla, 6,499; Kartal, 6,214; Eyüpsultan, 5,646; Çekmeköy, 5,553; Sultangazi, 5,356; Ataşehir, 5,159; Avcılar, 5,154; and Bağcılar, with 5,079 houses for sale.
According to the same report Adalar has the lowest housing stock, with 199 available units, followed by Beykoz with 301; Çatalca with 625; Şile, 706; Beyoğlu, 1,626; Sultanbeyli, 1,924; and Beşiktaş, 1,933.
In Gaziosmanpaşa 4,991 residences are up for sale, while there are 4,919 in Kağıthane, 4,776 in Büyükçekmece, 4,529 in Fatih, 3,949 in Silivri, 3,809 in Üsküdar, 3,700 in Arnavutköy, 3,559 in Şişli, 3,400 in Esenler, 3,192 in Zeytinburnu, 3,060 in Bakırköy, 2,866 in Bayrampaşa, 2,691 in Güngören, and 2,214 in Sarıyer.
Many economists expect a financial crisis in the housing market due to a decreasing number of home sales in addition to the fact that 10,000 mortgages went into default last year.
The construction industry has been growing thanks to government support since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002. According to a story in the Sözcü daily by İsmail Şahin, a just-terminated state of emergency and rising prices have negatively affected home sales across Turkey.