Turkish companies are spending millions of dirhams promoting local projects to UAE investors at Cityscape Global in the hope of capitalising on a wave of investment in the country.
Walking through the World Trade Centre halls at the Cityscape exhibition in Dubai, the Turkish signs were easy to spot. Turkish real estate projects are the main overseas exhibitors this year, with more than 50 companies from across Turkey’s real estate spectrum taking part and occupying 4,200 square metres of exhibition space.
These include developers Altin Turk, Anatolian Real Estate, Beytturk, Cemre, Kuzu Group and Eroglu. Turkish contractors are represented by Garanti Koza, Alfa Yalova Insaat and EGE Yapi Construction, the architects Efekta, Evrenol and Öncüoglu + AC, while the brokers Hashim Property, Ayal and Realtyport Istanbul are also attending.
The contingent also includes the Turkish news website Emlakkulisi.com, the conference organiser Gyoder, the newspaper Hurriyet and the investment company Veziroglu.
Hurriyet even organised a conference taking place at Cityscape titled Why Invest in Turkey? featuring the mayor of Istanbul, Kadir Topbas, and aimed at encouraging GCC investors to look beyond Turkey's faltering economy and collapsing peace talks with Kurdish separatists in favour of the long-term economic benefits of investing there.
The Turkish marketing wave comes amid increasing Middle East investment in the Turkish property market since the passing of a new law in 2012 that made it easier for foreigners to acquire real estate in the country.
Besides increasing the maximum size of real estate a foreigner may buy from 2.5 hectares to 60 hectares, the law also abolished the rule of reciprocity, under which only citizens of countries allowing Turks to own property could buy real estate in Turkey. The removal of the rule opened the door to many Arab investors.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, house sales to the foreigners increased by 43.4 per cent in the year to the end of April 2015 to reach 19,880.
Antalya and Istanbul were the cities most preferred by the foreigners, followed by Bursa, Yalova and Aydın.
It added that since January 2013, 13,796 properties in Antalya and 10,002 in Istanbul had been sold to foreigners.
For the Turkish property broker Siyahkalem, which was at the exhibition to showcase Emlak Konut Real Estate Investment Company’s 467,000 square metre KÖY housing plan to be built in the Istanbul suburb of Zekeriyaköy, the selling point was clear.
“Turkey is one of the most attractive real estate investment destinations in the region because of its increased GDP and strong economic growth,” said Ibrahim Kahraman, Siyahkalem’s chief financial officer.
Ali Agaoglu, the chairman of the real estate and construction company Agaoglu, said his firm was exhibiting for the fourth year running because of the high demand from the UAE.
“We have experienced an increase of interest from the Middle Eastern investors in the Turkish real estate market. The majority of our properties have been sold to investors from the region,” he said. “I believe the reason for this rise is the quality of the projects being presented and the strong ties between our very similar cultures.’’
Deyaar Development last month signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey’s Asçıoglu Group aimed at enabling Deyaar to build new projects in Turkey.
The company joins a raft of UAE companies investing in Turkey including the Abu Dhabi-based hotel chain Rotana, which last year announced a venture to build a 30-storey hotel, apartment and office tower on the outskirts of Istanbul.
Saeed Mohammed Al Qatami, the Deyaar chief executive, said: “Turkey presents appealing investment opportunities as a key destination in the emerging regional market.”
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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