The best place in the world to get real estate right now

The next economic boom of the following decade will be in Istanbul, and the best way to profit from it is to buy property there.

Warning: This is not financial advice, merely my opinion.

Istanbul: Eternal melting pot of the world and newly-found uprise

Istanbul is, and always was a beautiful, gigantic, and economically important metropole. In addition to that, it's currently growing at an unprecedented speed. The city is a melting pot of cultures, with vibes that you would attribute to an emerging New York of past times. The various and versatile cuisines might just be the best in the world and constantly attract food bloggers from all over. If you walk the streets of Istanbul with open eyes, you will run into many huge malls, apartment skyscrapers, and building renovations - both finalized and being constructed. And let's not forget the newly built airport - an unequaled colossus, making the city a major economic hub on the seaside and a center for aerial traffic.

Observe the trends and listen to people. My personal social circle has started to visit Istanbul more and more, without me mentioning it in the first place. On Instagram, Influencers I follow randomly and increasingly feature Istanbul. You're definitely getting those trend vibes, like when the Burj Khalifa suddenly started popping up in the background of people.

Maybe it's just my personal bubble that happens to go in that direction. But check this out; it's the Google Trends of the years 2004-2022. The red line is Istanbul. While London and New York are sharply declining in interest, Los Angelos is falling slowly, and Istanbul and Dubai are clearly rising. Dubai is outgrowing Istanbul, but obviously, they do a lot more to create headlines and by now simply have the branding advantage of being Dubai. Also, buying property in Dubai isn't a secret tip by any means anymore. We're looking for that early, hidden ten-bagger entry:

Interesting research material: Get some tangible human feedback on Istanbul from people who moved to Istanbul. Listen to their reasoning and experience.

Demographic and economic outlook

But there is more: Blooming political reasons on the horizon paint a bright future for the city and Turkey in general.

Strong demographic, and the strongest in Europe today

For once, Turkey's population demographic is exciting. While the median age is increasing (which itself, economy-wise, is usually not desirable), it has

• the highest (absolute) birth rate in Europe
• ~25% of the population (currently, that's ~21.5m people) who will enter the job market within the next ~18 years

Tip: For more profound research and understanding, I recommend you to check out what the OECD says about ageing population and its implications in a comparison between multiple countries.

While it may become critical in about 30+ years, for now, I see a demographic boom in these numbers.

The economic center of the world and its future

Further, let's focus once more on the city's economic importance. Countries such as Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania are connected to Asia and Africa by water through the Bosporus.

An interesting fact is that Turkey has to let pass civilian (that includes commercial) ships free of charge through the Bosporus under the Montreux Convention. However, "contrary to public perception", ships are still charged a total of $150 million per year. I don't know or understand for what, but in terms of a country's economy anyway, that's a non-relevant blip.

Now, Erdogan is building the Istanbul Canal. An alternative route for ships to the Bosphorus, aimed to be completed in 2026. This canal may allow Turkey to circumvent the Montreux Convention. Still, it has yet to be observed how the canal will be used politically, especially in the face of the current situation in Ukraine. Despite that, it will likely lead to a substantial taxing of commercial vehicles passing the Canal, which will become an additional, major pillar for Turkey and likely strengthen its internal economy.

Note: There are a lot of critical voices about the project out there. This is a piece I found representative of most of them. Whether or not this project will indeed be finalized one day and what specific political decisions will be made can only be answered by time itself.

Life quality, cheap living costs, and attraction of foreigners

Remember how I mentioned the apartment skyscrapers? Look at the Turkish Lira. Turkey currently is by far the cheapest country to live in Europe (sorted by living costs for expats). And it's not like it's an underdeveloped country (well, I admit I can only speak for Istanbul here). You can get everything everywhere.

Check out the living costs in Turkey. At the time of writing, $1 equals about ~15 Turkish Lira. You can have a 3-course meal in a mid-range restaurant for 2 people for ~$17. That's what a bagel with a few custom toppings costs in New York. Anyway, now look at the salaries paid in Turkey (~90% of people earn $15k-$20k). If you think that Istanbul is vastly different from the rest of Turkey, it's slightly better and more expensive on all points, but not too much.

Got that? Remember the apartment skyscrapers again, for the third time. Look back at the salaries and living costs. Back to the skyscrapers. Now, do you start to understand? They're attracting wealthy foreigners - apart from that, you don't even need to be that European-rich to be rich in Turkey.

Another consideration: With COVID and many people flooding the market remotely - free to work from wherever - Istanbul (and Turkey in general) is a perfect choice. Sunshine, a clearly net-positive balance between life quality and living costs, delicious food, an excellent healthcare system (even before the USA), and probably more.

Non-essential but gorgeous things that will make your guests feel like monarchs.

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(Opinionated) conclusion

It's simply a trend. In a few years, Istanbul will have stepped out of the shadows. Still a cultural melting pot, still offering an unrivaled food experience, a touristic attraction, and still the economic gateway between East and West. However, it will be unlike more developed in all of these areas. Likewise, not only you can expect prices to rise for living costs (as they're doing everywhere in the world right now anyway), but also for real estate. With such a course of changes, an Airbnb business built up early today may prove invaluable in a few years.