Turkey welcomed just over seven per cent more tourists in January than it did one year ago, with Britons among the top ten nationalities gracing its shores, new figures from the Turkish Board of Statistics show.

The total influx of visitors amounted to 714,425 people over the month, with German nationals the most enthusiastic Turkey-lovers followed by Bulgarians, Russians, and Georgians.

The country attracted guests from diverse regions, with Britain and France figuring in the top ten visiting nationalities alongside Iran and Syria. Although air access to Turkey became significantly more popular, with 11 per cent more tourists arriving by plane, sea travel enjoyed a surge of 18.3 per cent as burgeoning numbers of tourists chose to drop anchor from the Mediterranean, Black or Aegean Seas.

The improved profile of the country''s tourist industry, particularly among British visitors, may maximise the attractiveness of the Turkish property market to investors seeking to soak up some of the unmet demand for holiday residences.

SunExpress, Turkey's leading low cost scheduled airline that was founded as a joint venture by Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, is to launch a new twice-weekly non-stop service on Thursday, 8 February 2007 between London Stansted and the picturesque city of Antalya on the Turkish Riviera.

SunExpress will operate between London Stansted and Antalya on Mondays and Thursdays. The flights depart from Stansted at 10.30 to arrive in Antalya at 16.30 local time. Services from Antalya will depart at 07.05 and arrive in Stansted at 09.30. Flight time is just four hours from Stansted to Antalya and 4 hours 30 minutes on the return leg.

In addition to the new Antalya service, SunExpress is to introduce a second route between the UK and Turkey in March. The second non-stop scheduled service will be between London Stansted and Izmir, Turkey's third largest city and second largest port, with a connecting service to Ercan in Northern Cyprus.

The new scheduled services offered by SunExpress between London Stansted and Turkey reflect the growing popularity and demand for Turkey as a destination in the UK, especially Antalya, the Turkish Riviera, Izmir and the resorts around the Aegean Sea, all of which have a special appeal to the increasing number of independent travellers and those with second homes in the area.

Antalya is also the gateway for Belek , Turkey's premiere golf resort. Located on the Mediterranean coast 30 km east of Antalya, Belek currently boasts five golf clubs with a further 11 courses and 44 hotels in various stages of construction, with a number programmed to open during 2007. Signature course designers include Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and David Feherty.

SunExpress' schedule to Antalya will give UK golfers the all-year-round option to fly out on Thursday and return on Monday after a weekend of three full days of golf in the sun. Reflecting the sporting interest in Antalya and Izmir, SunExpress offers complimentary carriage of golf and diving equipment weighing less than 30 kilos

SunExpress, which made its first flight in 1989, boasts a young fleet with an average age of under 7-years and currently operates nine Boeing 737-800s and four Boeing 757-200s. It carried more than 2-million passengers in 2006. Besides the UK, SunExpress offers non-stop scheduled services between Turkey and over 20 destinations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as well as a domestic Turkish network serving nine destinations. The airline has an interline agreement with Lufthansa and a code-share agreement with Turkish Airlines. SunExpress, which also operates custom-made and full charters, moved its headquarters from Frankfurt to Antalya in 1990 and in 1996 Lufthansa's shares in SunExpress were transferred to Condor, the airline of the Thomas Cook Group.

Although considered a 'low cost scheduled carrier', SunExpress' product offer includes: free beverages and non alcoholic drinks; complimentary meal plus special dietary options; seat selection at check-in; newspapers; in-flight movie & audio entertainment; 20 kgs free baggage allowance; and golf and dive equipment carried free of charge up to 30 kgs.

In the UK bookings for SunExpress can be made through specialist Turkish travel agents and operators, on "www.sun-express.co.uk", or by calling 0845 600 1521.

Foreign investors are showing a serious interest in capital ventures in Turkey's non-financial sector. Positive developments in the economy and success of the programs implemented by the he International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the safety deriving from Turkey's European Union process, have all contributed to trust in the Turkish market. As a result Turkish companies have been increasingly partnering and conducting transactions with big foreign companies.

Buy a Property in Turkey - Jasmin Emlak - Turkiye Immobilien
Real Estate in Alanya - Belek Real Estate - Turkiye Makelaars

Koç Group recently sold its Izocam and Döktaş divisions to foreign investors. The IMKB's publicly held corporation Idaş has a foreign suitor in European bed manufacturer Hilding. Food producer Penguen Gıda and Turkey's biggest seamless apparel producer Metemteks, have also signed partnership contacts with foreign investors.

Turkish Property News

The Turkish Red Crescent Society (Kizilay) general management has issued a tender for the sale of its real estate in Antalya's Serik district. The 42,473 square meter plot is in a tourism area by the sea. The land will be sold through closed envelope bidding at the Kızılay general management building in Ankara on Nov. 24.

Buy a Property in Turkey - Jasmin Emlak - Turkiye Immobilien
Real Estate in Alanya - Belek Real Estate - Turkiye Makelaars

Five years ago it became possible for foreigners to buy Turkish property . As business booms we look at the options for city slickers and sun-worshippers.

Perfect skies, blue seas, golden beaches - Turkey has got them all, but, for now at least, instead of being overrun with tourists, much of it remains relatively unspoilt, so ideal for holiday-home seekers. Of the 51,044 homes owned by foreigners in Turkey in 2005, some 9,298 (or 18 per cent) are in UK hands, according to Turkish government data, up from just 2,420 in 2003.

There is a variety of property and prices on the Turquoise Coast, the most sought-after area of Turkey where the Mediterranean and Aegean meet. Alanya property experts Jasmin Real Estate say that the most popular locations for British and Irish buyers are Belek and Mahmutlar, with Alanya still very popular with the Dutch and Scandinavian market. "Although Belek and Alanya were fairly unknown to the British and Irish market a few years ago, they are now starting to discover the huge range of property available " says a Jasmin Real Estate spokesman.

Michael Doig of Colliers CRE, a British property consultancy that monitors Turkey's housing market, says: "Like many countries that are becoming the focus of British residential investors, growth is estimated at anywhere from 10 to 40 per cent a year."

Turkey's Muslim conventions don't prevail in resorts, but there are some idiosyncrasies that can catch out foreign buyers. In some areas, for example, it's hard for Britons to buy a car without being full-time residents, and shipping large items to Turkey. is tricky and costly.

But the most significant problem until recently has been the country's volatile economy. This has been a deterrent to property investors, especially as slow progress on reforms have led to faltering talks on Turkey's EU membership.

As recently as 2001, the Turkish economy was associated with soaring inflation, black-market activity and high levels of national debt. Even in 2004, 40 per cent of government spending was on interest payments on debts. But in the last two years, to win support for EU membership, Turkey has changed.

The country has brought inflation down to its lowest level since the mid-1970s, annual growth is now a staggering 9 per cent, and it is setting up systems of land registry to prevent disputes over ownership.

"The transformation has been dramatic. The introduction of a Turkish mortgage system this year will stimulate demand for domestic housing and drive prices up. There's been a liberalisation of foreign property-ownership laws, with new legislation in 2005, and the possibility of EU accession has increased foreign investment," says Alise Crossick of a UK property consultancy.

Given the many agents now marketing to Britons, it is amazing that Turkey only allowed foreigners to buy property in 2001. In five years it has become popular, helped by the fact that all property is freehold and eligible for inheritance by spouses or offspring.

Turkey is already a firm favourite. And, for the moment at least, a competitively priced one.

Tourist numbers to Turkey are forecast to grow through 2006, despite the outbreak of avain flu. Tourism and Culture Minister Atilla Koc predicted “above 21 million” compared with last year's total of 20.5 million visitors

The original aim for 2006 was to attract 26 million tourists, and even though this now seems unrealistic, the fact that numbers are still improving even with the setbacks suffered this year shows the strength of the market.

"I've put the target at 26 million for 2006... Maybe it won't be 26 million, but it will be ... above 21 million," Koc said at a conference in the Mediterranean resort of Belek, the Anatolia news agency reported.

A record 20.5 million foreigners visited Turkey last year and the tourism industry, a vital source of foreign revenue and employment, earned the country $18.15 billion, a 14 percent increase over 2004.

The increase in people taking their holidays outside of package tour operators and opting to travel independently means that those with property in Turkey and Alanya property have even more opportunity to make money from it through rentals.

The Turkish lira strengthened to a three-month high against the dollar on Wednesday as the central bank showed it has regained market confidence and the U.S. Fed halted its two-year interest-raising cycle. The Turkish lira continued to climb against the dollar and the euro yesterday, gaining 1.58 percent in value in the Istanbul free market while one dollar was traded at YTL 1.4457. The Turkish lira also gained value against the euro to stand at YTL 1.8706.

Buy a Property in Turkey - Jasmin Emlak - Turkiye Immobilien
Real Estate in Alanya - Belek Real Estate - Turkiye Makelaars

The Istanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB) National 100 Index rose 822.49 points in the second session to close at 37,563.33 points. The shares' average daily gain was 2.81 points, thus causing the İMKB main index to match its June 2006 value. Generally, Turkish markets met the Fed's decision to hold rates positively. The dollar saw some selling and the U.S. bourses closed lower yesterday, said a banker.

Turkish Property News

Turkish real estate companies expect the building and property sector to grow by more than 10 percent this year, while up to four property firms will list on the stock market, the business association head said.

Turkey's economy, which suffered a financial crisis in 2001, is now enjoying strong growth and is attracting foreign investors. Haluk Sur, who heads the Association of Real Estate Investment Companies (GYODER), reckons the real estate and construction sector will outpace overall economic growth this year to become a more important chunk of the economy.

Sur, who is also chief executive of İhlas, one of 10 listed real estate investment trusts (REIT), said three or four more REITs will list on the stock market this year as part of a wider boom in new share sales.

"[Growth] may not be 20 percent but not less than 10," Sur told Reuters in an interview.
In recent years the real estate and construction sectors have made up about 10 percent of Gross National Product, which has been seen growing to YTL 539.9 billion ($381 billion according to government calculations).

That would be slower than the construction sector's exceptional 19.7 percent growth in the first nine months last year, outpacing 5.5 percent for the whole economy, as interest rates fell and the market suddenly picked up after years in the doldrums due to the financial crisis. In some parts of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city with a population of 12 million and 3 million homes, real estate prices rose as much as 150 to 200 percent last year, Sur said.

"[From now on] the price increase in the real estate market will be more meaningful, and may be 9 to 10 or 12 percent."

One of the reasons behind the boom is an increase in home ownership rates in Turkey as economic growth translates into higher spending power.

"In my opinion it may go up to 70 to 75 percent in the coming 10 years," said Sur, who also sees opportunities in possible public-private partnerships to redevelop Turkey's shanty towns and areas where housing is not resilient to earthquakes.

Economists expect lower borrowing rates -- currently at 13.5 percent -- and lower inflation after years of double-digit levels.

Turkey's candidacy to joint the European Union also is likely to help fuel foreign interest in construction and property, following the example of the EU's new Eastern European members, they say.

"Turkey has underdeveloped construction as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. If you look at offices [per capita], it's tiny compared to EU countries," said Mark Robinson, head of research at CA IB International Markets.

"It's sustainable, because we've seen this downturn for the last four or five years. There's a lot of catch-up in Turkey," he added.

A new law allowing mortgages is awaiting final approval in Parliament and is likely to further drive the real estate sector.

But Ihlas's Sur did not expect radical changes soon, because the country first needs to firmly establish a secondary market to make mortgages secure, which could take a couple of years.

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Turkey concluded its accession talks on the first of the 35 negotiating
chapters with the European Union yesterday, passing a critical
threshold in its membership process, but difficulties that surrounded
the event showed that many more Cyprus-related obstacles lie ahead.

The Greek Cypriots dropped their objection to the opening and
conclusion of the talks on the science and research chapter after the
EU agreed, following several hours of intense negotiations in
Luxembourg at the ministerial level, to mention Ankara's obligation to
open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus and to refer
to a declaration issued in September calling on Turkey to recognize and
normalize its ties with the Greek Cypriot administration.

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Greek Cyprus is now set to work to toughen the tone of an EU statement that will be issued after a summit later this week.

The EU position paper for talks on science and research says the talks were closed only provisionally, a sign of the Cyprus row hovering like the sword of Democles over Ankara's head throughout the rest of its accession process.

Greek Cyprus has the right to veto Turkey's talks at the opening or closing of talks on each of the remaining 34 chapters.

"This process has its difficulties and its ups and downs. What is important is to live with them and reach the eventual goal of full membership," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül told reporters before departing for Luxembourg together with State Minister Ali Babacan, Turkey's chief negotiator for EU talks.

A total of 1,206 pieces of property were sold to foreigners in the first quarter of this year. Showing that even the temporary withdrawal of the rights of foreigners to buy Turkish property did little to dampen enthusiasm in the market.

According to data provided by the Land Registry General Directorate and reported in Turkish Daily News, from Jan. 7, 2006 through to mid April, the total number of properties sold to foreigners was 1,206.

More and more different nationalities are purchasing in Turkey. The figures show citizens from 24 countries bought real estate there, though British buyers are still the most committed to Turkish property . During the period in question 588 British citizens, most preferring the south of Turkey, bought 420 pieces of real estate, followed by the Germans, Irish, Dutch, Norwegians, Belgians and Greeks.

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