The exorbitant rise in rents in Turkey, especially in large cities such as Istanbul, is leading to surreal situations in which substandard housing and even dilapidated houses that do not meet the minimum conditions of habitability are being offered on the market in exchange for abusive prices.
Turkish media report that rents of up to 10,000 liras a month (270 €/month) are being asked for houses in basements with no natural light, damp walls, broken cupboards and kitchens and bathrooms in deplorable conditions. This is a very high cost considering that the minimum wage in Turkey is currently around 17,000 liras (€455).
These are substandard dwellings that are offered as ‘affordable’ and are often located on ground floors and in basements with no windows – or at best with small windows close to the roof – which not only offer sub-optimal living conditions, but also pose a health and safety risk, especially in the event of flooding or fire. Other housing on offer are shacks or dilapidated dwellings that do not offer the minimum living conditions.
6,000 liras a month for a 20 m2 substandard dwelling
Other examples cited by the Turkish press include dilapidated houses with one room without a floor or furniture in Beyoğlu – in the very centre of Istanbul – for which rents of 6,000 liras a month (160 €/month) are being asked; in Eyüp, in the north of the city, 10,000 liras are being asked for another one-room house for rent, also in a dilapidated state, with a dirty and totally degraded interior.
In the Esenler district, on the European side of the city, a 50 square metre substandard dwelling in appalling conditions, where the living room is used as a bedroom, is advertised as ‘suitable for up to 4 people’, although it barely offers enough space for one person to live in, and a rent of 8,000 liras per month (215 €/month) is being asked for it.
Also striking is a 20 square metre flat in Fatih – in Istanbul’s historic centre – advertised as ‘centrally located’ with only a tiny window near the ceiling; the place, for which 6,000 liras (161 €/month) is asked for rent, is so small that when the folding bed is opened, there is barely enough room for one person to move around.
These are just some of the examples currently on the rental market in Istanbul, and sadly there are people who are willing to accept these conditions because they cannot find other housing due to rising rents, because of factors such as inflation.
In the last year, rent prices increased by 47% in Turkey
A recent report on the state of Turkey’s real estate market revealed that rents in the Eurasian country have risen by 47% in the last year alone, with the average price per square metre for renting standing at 185 liras (5 €), or in other words: the average price for renting a 100 square metre property in Turkey is 18,500 liras (approx. 500 €). And it can be said that, nowadays, the market has slowed down: in previous years, the year-on-year increase in rental prices almost tripled.
Moreover, these prices are rising even more in the big cities; in fact, while the rise in rent prices in Istanbul – the most expensive city to live in Turkey – in the last year has remained even below the national average (46.7%), the cost of renting a house has soared since 2023 a 56% in Ankara and especially in Izmir (62.5%). Today, the average cost of renting a 100 square metre house is 24,400 liras in Istanbul (656 €), while it stands at 18,000 liras (484 €) in Ankara and 21,800 liras (587 €) in Izmir. These prices, however, can be up to twice as high in newly built homes.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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