On February 6, 2023, at 4:17 am, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on Richter scale struck west Turkish city, Gaziantep, and nine hours later, at 13:24 in the afternoon, another earthquake of 7.5 magnitude struck the city of Kahramanmaraş, also in southern Turkey.
The impact of these two earthquakes affected 10 different cities in southern Turkey along with some cities in northern Syria, causing more than 40,000 deaths so far and more than 100,000 injured.
The number of collapsed buildings has exceeded 12,000 buildings in Turkey, and here many logical inquiries come to mind after the occurrence of this natural disaster.
- Why did all these buildings collapse, considering the intensity of the earthquake to be great, but not to the point of immediate destruction of all this number of buildings?
- There are many new buildings also collapsed, what was the reason behind that?
- What are the real guarantees that protect buildings from earthquakes?
- Will the demand for real estate increase throughout Turkey or will it decrease?
- What is the status of Istanbul and its real estate prices?
Let us start by defining the types of buildings available in those areas:
We have old buildings, buildings over 20 years old, with a number of floors that do not exceed 5 floors, and they were originally not equipped to resist earthquakes of this degree, and therefore a large part of them collapsed..
Also we have buildings less than 20 years old and were built by a contractor with a limited commercial activity, and they are also not earthquake-resistant, and we can observe the image below to note that the building does not have the right foundations in the first place.
We notice that the buildings surrounding it were not affected by the earthquake nor the falling of this building.
A section of the modern complexes that were built by a contractor with medium commercial activity and completely collapsed, despite their presence near older buildings that remained steadfast.
And the main reason is that these buildings are equipped with the best materials, as attention was paid to the form rather than the content.
We all know that the building consists of walls and columns,
But the walls are not considered as pivotal elements that bear the weight of the building, as they can be demolished and the property redistributed without the right materials will be affecting the safety of the building.
The columns are responsible for carrying the building, and the amount of steel within the columns is the main element to insure the building's ability to resist earthquakes.
Steel is a high-priced item, and especially after Covid-19, steel prices have multiplied during a very short time.
Despite what all have been said , people are still looking for cheap properties.
Therefore, the real estate developer, who cares about his interest without caring about the safety of people, builds cheap properties that contain the least amount of steel possible.
A new building built by a well-known developer cannot full due to any natural disaster, especially earthquakes that are less than 9 on the Richter scale.
Evidence for this is that the state construction company, Toki, built more than 133,000 houses in those 10 Turkish cities affected by the earthquake, and none of these houses have fallen or been destroyed.
Today, the only guarantee is your choice of a reliable real estate developer (it does not have to be with the guarantee of the Turkish government).
By obtaining a free consultation from our team, you can get to know the most important and trusted real estate developers in the market.
What about the demand for the real estate market in Turkey, will it increase or decrease?
Foreign investors will believe that the demand will decrease because those wishing to own property will fear that another earthquake will occur later in any city in Turkey.
While in reality, this belief is incorrect because the percentage of foreigners who own real estate in Turkey compared to local demand does not exceed 3%. Therefore, even if all foreigners decide to stop buying real estate in all of Turkey, the number of real estate sold will decrease only by 3%!
As for the local citizens, it is indispensable to own a property in his country, and today he will choose his next property wisely, and after throughout study of the developers, and he will not be tempted by the reduced price from an unknown contractor to buy a property that has proven on the ground that it will endanger the lives of its residents sooner or later.
Now, we move on to talk about Istanbul, as it is the first and almost the only destination for those wishing to invest in real estate in Turkey.
The epicenter of the earthquake is 1100 km away from Istanbul, and this is a noticeable distance. Therefore, when you check on your acquaintances in Istanbul, they will tell you that we did not feel anything at all.
In fact, you do not have to worry if you are an investor who buys your property from a developer with a good reputation in the market, and of course through consulting a trusted, professional broker. In istanbul, all new properties that are being built do not obtain a construction license before fulfilling the conditions of ‘’Dask’’ earthquake insurance, which qualifies the buildings to withstand earthquakes under 9 degrees according to the Richter scale.
It suffices to remember that this catastrophe could have been avoided by 80% if only reliable construction companies were the ones in charge, which had proven their worth over the years.
From an investment point of view, the earthquake-resistant real estate has a much higher rental return than the old or non-resistant real estate, because the tenant today will be more focused on his safety.
And because of the availability of offers from reliable construction companies in installments or facilitating payments, you can now own a property in Istanbul from a good developer without the need to buy an old property or from a newly unreputable developer.
The difference between buying a property from a trusted developer and buying a cheap one
