Turkey’s property market shakes up after earthquake

The coast is now crowded with refugees, and in Istanbul prices have dropped by half

Search and rescue operations in Turkey have ended in all provinces except Kahramanmaras and Hatay. It was decided to completely demolish the city of Nurdagi in the province of Gaziantep. Residents of the affected regions, who have nowhere to go, remain to live in tents and in metal containers. They cannot afford to rent an apartment on the Antalya coast – prices have jumped several times.

Natalia came to Turkey from Ukraine. A couple of days ago, she posted a post on social networks: “For the first time in my life I ask for help. I lived in the suburbs of Hatay. Now I’m in a godforsaken village. There is nowhere else to move. I have two children and two dogs. My husband and I had a fishing and hunting shop. Now nobody needs our product.”

The woman told why she was left without compensation and without a room in a hotel where migrants are accommodated.

– I lived near Khatai, – says Natalia. – Our house survived, so we are not entitled to compensation. Material assistance of 10 thousand liras (40 thousand rubles) is paid only to those who have lost their homes. Nobody cares that we can no longer live in our house. It is psychologically difficult to be there. Yes, and there is no guarantee that after continued shocks, it will not collapse.

And there are many like us. Residents of the surviving houses are afraid to return to their apartments. They can only run there for five minutes, grab their shorts and go back to the tent.

Metal containers were brought to the affected regions, where people were settled. They are not suitable for long term stays. Now it is cold there, in summer it will be unbearably hot. But it’s better than nothing. I applied through the app to be given a place in the container. But there is little hope. They also have a long queue. I don’t even expect a hotel room…

Volunteer Mikhail helps with the settlement of internally displaced persons in Antalya.

– The Turkish coast is crowded. In Kemer, Alanya, Antalya, Bodrum, people, as in the summer season. There are huge traffic jams on the roads. Residents of the affected regions continue to arrive, – says the source. – Prices on the coast soared for rent and real estate. But even for the high cost, many do not agree to rent housing to migrants. They fear that if the refugees run out of money to pay for an apartment, then they will not be able to be evicted.

Those victims who do not have enough space in hotels, and they cannot afford to rent an apartment, go back to the disaster zone. Recently it became known about a large family with a 6-month-old child – they are going to return to Kahramagmarsh, they will live there in a tent.

The real estate market in Turkey is also restless.

– Due to the fact that a new earthquake is predicted in Istanbul, the residents of the capital have problems with renting an apartment and selling housing, – says Elena, a resident of Istanbul. – An acquaintance rented a good apartment for 8,000 liras (31 thousand rubles) – such prices have not been seen for a long time. But still no one wants to rent it. Most Istanbulites, who have nowhere and nothing to move to, rely on the “will of Allah.” They write in chats: there is no need to warn us about the earthquake, we will die, so we will die.

Concerned about the situation in the resorts of Turkey and tour operators.

– First of all, tourists began to be interested in which hotels the victims of the earthquake were accommodated in, – says an employee of a travel agency in Alanya. – They don’t want to live next to people who are suffering. Now it is problematic to find a hotel free of refugees. If there are any, they are almost all booked. So the tourist season is in question.