Turkey’s homeownership rate fell to 55.8 percent in 2024, placing the country 29th among 32 European nations surveyed by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office.
The rate leaves Turkey approximately 13 percentage points below the EU average of 68.4 percent. Only Austria, Germany and Switzerland ranked lower, with Switzerland recording the continent’s lowest rate at 42 percent.
High housing prices, limited access to mortgage financing and rising rental costs have driven Turkey’s position in the rankings, according to the Eurostat Housing 2025 report.
East-west divide
Central and Eastern Europe dominate the top of the table. Romania leads with a homeownership rate of about 96 percent, followed by Slovakia at roughly 94 percent and Hungary at about 91 percent, Eurostat data show.
Western Europe posts lower ownership rates where developed rental markets, social housing and strong tenant protections make long-term renting more common. In Turkey, by contrast, the lower rate reflects affordability and financing constraints rather than a preference for renting.
Prices outpace incomes
Turkey’s central bank house price index showed nominal home prices rose 29.4 percent year-on-year in December.
In Istanbul average prices reached 55,731 lira per square meter in the fourth quarter, Bizim Menkul Değerler A.Ş. said, placing a typical 100-square-meter apartment at around 5.57 million lira.
That amount equals more than two decades of earnings at Turkey’s 2025 monthly minimum wage of 22,104 lira.
Average annual household disposable income stood at 374,899 lira in 2024, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
Mortgage lending remains constrained
High interest rates and tighter credit standards have pushed many buyers out of the mortgage market. TSKB Real Estate Valuation said only 15 percent of home sales in the first half of the year were financed through bank loans.
Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency has also tightened rules for second-home borrowing, cutting the loan-to-value ceiling by 75 percent from its previous cap and effectively limiting loans to about 22.5 percent of a property’s value for second-home buyers.
Supply pressures and rebuild demands
Construction costs remain elevated. TurkStat data showed the construction cost index rose 34.27 percent year-on-year in December, with labor costs surging nearly 58 percent as skilled workers shifted to earthquake reconstruction zones, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Building permits fell 18.8 percent in the fourth quarter, signaling weaker near-term housing supply.
Reconstruction following the February 2023 earthquakes has added further pressure on national construction capacity. The government delivered 304,836 homes by October and aims to complete 452,983 units by the end of the year, the Housing Development Administration said.
For households priced out of buying, rents have become an additional burden. Bahçeşehir University’s Center for Economic and Social Research reported average advertised rents of 339 lira per square meter in Istanbul and 240.5 lira nationwide in November.
Foreign home purchases fell to 23,781 units last year, the lowest level in seven years, and accounted for 1.6 percent of total sales, Anadolu reported.
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