The world's largest real estate fair, MIPIM 2019, brought together Turkish real estate giants and businesspeople with government officials on March 12-15 in Nice, France. Along with over 200 Turkish institutions and organizations, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum and Investment Office President Arda Ermut also attended MIPIM this year.
Participating in the fair, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum said, "During the course of the 3-day trade visit, 1 million business cards changed hands. This is very important." Minister Kurum added that the Turkish construction industry ranks second after China, and that Türkiye has USD 11 billion worth of investments in 36 countries. During MIPIM 2019, Kurum also held investor meetings with executives of companies from the UK, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Germany, and several countries in the Middle East.
Speaking at MIPIM, Investment Office President Arda Ermut said that Türkiye welcomed more than USD 210 billion in investment to date from 2002, with USD 55 billion of that coming from real estate and related sectors. “We are in a period where uncertainty in the world is increasing, FDI is going down, and investors are cautious. Investments in the world have been moving downwards for the last three years and fell to around USD 1.2 trillion in 2018. This is the same as the figures at the time of the global financial crisis. Many more actors are trying to get a share of a shrinking pie. While vying for this share, the sectors where you can reach significant volumes in direct investments, such as real estate, gain importance,” said Ermut.
According to TurkStat, real estate sales to internationals increased by 78.4% in 2018, nearly reaching 40,000 - the highest number ever. The majority of the buyers came from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Kuwait, in order. Legislative amendments that eased citizenship with investment limits for foreigners, campaigns launched by real estate developers and banks, and favorable foreign currency exchange rates were the main reasons behind this record. Moreover, the January figures showed that real estate sales to international buyers in Türkiye skyrocketed by 81.9% y/y, reaching 3,168.