In Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, the crisis of rented apartments, which has made hundreds of thousands of people suffer, is showing its effect. In addition to the unplanned implementation of urban transformation, the return of citizens who migrated to their hometowns with the relaxation of pandemic bans, and the fact that thousands of students will come to Istanbul with the reopening of universities for face-to-face education, caused the rental apartment crisis to erupt throughout the city.
Nizamettin Aşa, President of the Istanbul Chamber of Realtors, stated that at this point, 100,000 of people could not meet the need for rental flats and that the rent prices increased, he made special evaluations for the Milli Gazete.
"100,000 PEOPLE SEEKING HOUSES FOR RENT"
Nizamettin Aşa, President of Istanbul Chamber of Realtors made following statements:
"Throughout Istanbul, as we constantly advise, because the urban transformation could not be carried out gradually, a very serious number of building evacuations took place. 3,000 buildings on the Kadıköy-Kartal-Pendik line, 3,000 buildings in the Avcılar region, and 2,000 buildings on the Bahçelievler Bakırköy line have been put into urban transformation. Assuming that an average of 15 families reside in each building, 100 thousand people searched for rental houses. With the relaxation of pandemic measures, schools have switched to face-to-face education again. There is now at least one university in every district of Istanbul. With the demands for accommodation of students who came to Istanbul to study at university, the return of citizens who migrated to their villages due to the pandemic, the search for a house by newly married couples, and the citizens whose buildings were taken into urban transformation, there was a sudden explosion in the demand for rental apartments."
"RENTAL PRICES INCREASED"
Nizamettin Aşa stated that the increasing demand had a negative impact on rental prices.
"More than 100 thousand people are looking for rental houses in 39 districts of Istanbul. Especially in Kadıköy, Suadiye, Bostancı and Kartal routes, the demand is very high. At this point, citizens no longer have the luxury of choosing a neighborhood. Even though it is far from where he lives, he has to settle in the place where he finds an apartment for rent. The process is also reflected in rental flat prices. Houses in the 1000-1500 lira band went up to 2,500 liras, and houses in the 2,500-3,000 lira band went up to 4 thousand liras," he said.
THE PROBLEM CREATED BY URBAN TRANSFORMATION WILL ALSO BE SOLVE BY URBAN TRANSFORMATION
Nizamettin Aşa stated that the problem could last for 2 more years.
"We made recommendations to avoid the current problem, and warned that the urban transformation should be done gradually, not by demolishing thousands of buildings at once, but by 500-500 gradually. Now, nearly 10,000 buildings across Istanbul are in ruins within the scope of urban transformation. It is foreseen that the problem of finding a flat for rent will continue for 2 more years. When the buildings in transformation are completed in a healthy way and handed over to their owners, the problem of rental houses will also disappear. The problem that started with urban transformation will be solved with urban transformation," he added.