Istanbul Property - A Safe Haven Emerging Market

The IMF is predicting that the global recovery is going to be held back by the huge floppy eared elephant we call the EU, so where does this leave property investors? The answer has to be Istanbul property.

Did you ever read the book about the family of mice and their stock of cheese? I first read the story back in 2007 when we were last facing some testing times and I like to keep it as a source of inspiration whenever times are tough.

The story is about four mice who live in a maze and they are quite happy living on the cheese they find in in their own little corner, so happy in fact that they begin to get a little lazy and depend heavily on it.
They go to the same place and do the same things every day regular as clockwork.

That is until one day when mother mouse goes to the spot where they always find their cheese only to find that it isn’t there anymore. The cheese had been moved.

Panic stricken she goes back to the family and tells them the bad news. Unfortunately even after looking hard they are unable to find any cheese. The next day the family check again…

Still no cheese and after some days they start to go hungry.

The mouse family driven by hunger eventually decide to get out of their comfort zone and go and try to find what they need in another part of the maze. Fortunately they find it and live happily.

The moral of the tale is that sometimes you need to change direction and find whatever it is you are looking for some place else. Sometimes there is no point in hanging around waiting for things to change.

I thought this story could be used perfectly to describe the dilemma being faced by property investors. Many will be frustrated and disillusioned with trying to find growth in EU property markets.

At the moment it simply isn’t there, so it is time to look beyond the borders and find safe havens that still provide a high return on investment like Istanbul.

Istanbul property prices have increased by 11.87% between August 2011 and August 2012 with smaller properties 51-75 sqm seeing an increase of 13.16% in this period. Housing stocks have also fallen nearly 3% from their peak in March.

Add to this an economy that is actually forecast to grow by more than 3% this year in contrast to a 0.4% contraction of the UK economy and it is easy to see where you can find the best property investment Europe.

If I were a smart mouse, I know where I would be heading with my money.

Are you struggling to find a good property market to invest in? Please leave your comments below:

Kind regards
Kabir M Qureshi 
Managing Director