Foreigners who previously bought houses in Turkey are now selling their properties for a large profit.

Real estate agencies in Bodrum, Marmaris, Kuşadası and Didim said foreigners, most of whom are the British, German and Dutch, are putting properties up for sale in order to profit as a result of the economic crisis.

"Following the law that enabled foreigners to buy property in Turkey, many foreigners bought property here. Some 10,000 foreigners bought properties in Didim over the last five years as a means of investment.

Purchasing property for investment purposes
They would sell them now for higher prices even if there was no crisis," said Osman Coşkun, chairman of Didim Real Estate Agencies Foundation. "Some foreigners living in Didim own four or five houses. They bought them for investment purposes at the time and now they are selling them to make a profit," said Carole Fascione, chairwoman of Didim Foreigners Foundation.

Believing that stagnation in the real estate industry will increase foreign demand, Müslüm Yıldırım, the second chairman of Kuşadası Real Estate Foundation, or KUŞEMDER, said, "The economic crisis is not just in Turkey. It has been affecting European markets more harshly.

Despite the crisis, those who have money invest in Turkey."

"I do not believe there will be an air of panic and foreigners will not sell their properties at prices lower than their real value. Conversely, the crisis is deepening in Europe and that will increase demand in Turkey.

A pensioner gets a salary of 1,000 euros per month. It is hard to live on this money in Europe while it is quite a big amount in Turkey’s economic conditions. Besides, Turkey is unprecedented in terms of its nature and climate," Yıldırım said.

"The number of foreigners buying property in Bodrum has increased by 60 percent in the last five years," said Ömer Yetgin, chairman of Bodrum Real Estate Counselors Foundation.

’No need for panicking due to crisis’
"An air of panic, using the crisis as an excuse, should be avoided. Foreigners, who bought properties for investment purposes five to 10 years ago, are now tending to sell their villas and properties.

However, the number of foreigners in Bodrum who want to sell their houses are less than in many other tourism centers as they bought their house to live in Bodrum, not to make a profit," he said.

"Foreigners have been defrauded by some unregistered real estate agencies and sold properties at unjust prices. Some 600 foreigners, mostly British, German, Dutch and Danish, want to sell their houses for this reason," said Yusuf Kenan Akkuş, chairman of Marmaris Real Estate Counselors Foundation.