Prices per square metre for apartments in Istanbul have declined dramatically in dollar terms, and now range from €1,100 to €4,600, but this very large range obviously depends enormously on location. Apartments in the marvellously attractive Bebek district of Besiktas are much more expensive than in most other parts of Istanbul, with prices of around €4,600 per square metre. The decline in prices (valued in dollars) has taken place despite a continuous rise in home prices in local terms and is largely due to the dramatic decline of the Turkish New Lira under Turkey's all-knowing, all-wise President Recip Erdogan.

In Istanbul, the gross rental yields on apartments - the return earned on the purchase price of a rental property, before taxation, vacancy costs, and other costs - range from 2% to 4.7%.

In previous years, our research has shown that rental yields are significantly higher on smaller apartments. But then smaller apartments tend to need more maintenance, so a higher yield is justified. It is rather obvious, however, that higher rental yields are to be earned in the poorer districts where per square metre prices are lower, and it is in these districts that rental yields edge up to 4.5%.

Round trip transaction costs are reasonable in Turkey. See our Turkey transactions cost analysis and our Turkey transaction costs compared to other countries.