Istanbul building report identifies 20,000 high-risk structures

An inspection report from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) reveals that 20,000 buildings in Istanbul have been identified as being at ‘high’ or ‘very high’ risk. Between July 2020 and July 2026, authorities conducted inspections on 40,000 buildings following citizen requests.

The data indicates that the most vulnerable districts are Avcılar, where 19.07% of inspected buildings are high-risk, and Zeytinburnu, with 14.59%. Other notable areas with high risk percentages include Bağcılar (8.34%), Küçükçekmece (7.8%), and Fatih (5.65%). Most of the at-risk structures were constructed before 1999.

Istanbul currently holds approximately one-third of Turkey’s total urgent urban transformation needs, accounting for roughly 600,000 independent units. Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum stated that since the official start of urban transformation efforts in 2012, 1,007,000 units have been completed, with another 291,000 currently in progress.