Turkish rental demand rises as supply and inflation shift

The Turkish housing market continues to face diverging trends between demand and real pricing. As of July 2026, rental demand rose by 3.5% monthly and 10.6% annually. However, real rental prices declined by 6.5% year-on-year because average increases failed to keep pace with monthly inflation. Similarly, the housing sales market saw real prices drop by 8.3% annually, with significant decreases in Izmir (9.7%), Istanbul (5.1%), and Ankara (2.7%).

To navigate this high-activity period, Hakan Akçam, President of the All Real Estate Consultants Association (TEDB), advises tenants—particularly students—to use bank channels, e-contract systems, and to include the term ‘rental amount’ (kira bedeli) in deposit sections to ensure refunds reflect current rental values. He also recommends that contracts explicitly state increase rates based on government-announced figures.

In response to the housing crisis following the February 2023 earthquakes, large-scale reconstruction led by the Housing Development Administration of Türkiye (TOKİ) has significantly increased supply. TOKİ completed approximately 434,000 earthquake-related units by the end of 2025, a sharp increase from the 213,000 units produced in the three years prior to the disaster. This surge has slowed rent inflation in earthquake zones and neighboring provinces, with some affected areas shifting from a shortage to a surplus of units.

For September 2026, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) set the legal maximum rent increase rate at 31.79%, based on the 12-month average of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).