Real estate in focus as KKM scheme wound down

ISTANBUL

Following the termination of the FX-Protected Deposit Scheme (KKM) and a downward trend in interest rates, attention in Türkiye is shifting back to the real estate market.

The Central Bank last month decided to terminate the opening and renewal of KKM effective Aug. 23.

The KKM balance was 427 billion Turkish Liras as of Aug. 22, according to data from the banking watchdog BDDK.

Real estate expert Mustafa Hakan Özelmacıklı commented that: “With the end of KKM, we expect these funds to gradually dissolve as maturities expire. This transition has already increased activity in capital markets, and movement in the real estate sector has also begun. Consumers are showing greater interest in existing homes.”

Özelmacıklı added, “In recent months, we observed that money exiting gold has flowed into real estate. Following the KKM decision, expectations that the real decline in housing prices will come to an end are reviving demand in the residential market.”

The anticipated interest rate cut by the Central Bank on Sept. 11 will also positively impact the housing market, according to Özelmacıklı.

“We can expect new records in the real estate sector, especially in housing,” he added.

“In the first seven months alone, sales have increased by more than 25 percent compared to last year. Total real estate transactions have surpassed the 2 million mark, with approximately 45 percent of that figure coming from residential sales. This signals that property prices, which have long remained limited in relation to inflation, may begin to rise again,” he said.