Turkey's house price index rose 96% annually in February

The prices of residential real estate in Turkey rose 96.4 percent year-on-year in February this year, Central Bank data showed. The rise came amid an increase in inflation. In Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, home to about a fifth of the country's population, the index rose 106.3% year-on-year.

The price rise is linked to the lira's fall in value at the end of 2021. It lost 44% of its value against the dollar during that year, leading to a spiral of import-related inflation.

The annual increase in residential real estate prices, as measured by the RPPI index, was 77.5% in January and 59.7% in December last year.

In February this year, the RPPI index rose by''26.9% in fact and up 13.5% from the previous month.

Turkey's consumer price inflation hit a 20-year high in March at 61.1%, up from 54% in February. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the average cost of renting a home rose 19.7% year-on-year in March.

Data from real estate website EmlakJet and competitor Sahibinden, analyzed by Bahçeşehir University, however, show that rental costs nearly doubled during the period.

The Reuters data also indicates that even these numbers are an underestimate. Many would-be renters have stopped looking for homes due to what some experts believe is the beginning of the emergence of a crisis in the market''real estate caused not only by inflation, but also by the fall of the lira, an active real estate market, population growth and a constant influx of immigrants.