By Melissa York.
Financial instability in Turkey seems to be drawing residents to buy up property in prime central London, in an effort to secure the safety of both their families, and money.
London’s grandest neighbourhoods have long attracted wealth from the Middle East, Asia and the US, but this year a different nationality has moved firmly into the spotlight: Turkey. Following President Erdogan’s re-election this week — securing a further term with 52.16% of the vote after narrowly defeating Kemal Kilicdaroglu — buying agents across prime central London are reporting a marked rise in interest from wealthy Turkish clients.
Why Turkish Buyers Are Turning to London
Turkey’s economy has struggled since 2018, a period of instability widely seen as contributing to the AKP’s losses in Istanbul and Ankara at the 2019 local elections. A brief pandemic-era recovery gave way to renewed turmoil in 2021, when the lira lost 44% of its value against the dollar after the Central Bank of Turkey cut interest rates from 19% to 14%.
We’ve seen first-hand how this backdrop is shaping buyer behaviour. As Black Brick founder Camilla Dell explains, the currency crisis has created a two-tier response among Turkish nationals in London:
“Many Turks fear the longer Erdogan remains in power, the worse the country’s economy will become. They have lost all hope that he can turn it around. His handling of the earthquake disaster [in February] has only cemented this thought in the mind of many Turks, both locally and Turkish expats.”
While some Turkish nationals are currently limited to renting in London, wealthier individuals and families are increasingly focused on moving capital out of Turkey altogether — and prime London property remains a preferred destination for that capital.
A Fast-Growing Wealth Bracket
Knight Frank’s Wealth Report projects that Turkey’s high-net-worth population will grow by 156.5% by 2027 — the fastest rate of any country globally. Much of this wealth is gravitating towards the same prestigious pockets of London long favoured by buyers from the UAE, Southeast Asia and, previously, Russia — with Turkish entrepreneurs behind several major transactions in Knightsbridge, Mayfair, South Kensington and Belgravia over the past year.
Notable recent deals include a £27m six-bedroom Victorian mansion in Belgravia purchased last summer by Hanzade Dogan Boyner, founder of the online shopping platform Hepsiburada, and a £27m sale in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge — a property originally listed at £35m.
Owning in London as a Marker of Success
Beyond pure investment, a London property continues to carry significant social and symbolic value for Turkish buyers. According to Dell, owning a holiday home in the capital is widely seen as a sign that someone has “made it” back home in Turkey — a driver that sits alongside, rather than instead of, the wealth-preservation motive.
Education is another consistent draw for upwardly mobile Turkish families, with strong demand for family homes near London’s leading independent schools, and growing interest in secondary residency as a longer-term option following Erdogan’s re-election. While Greece, Portugal and Italy remain in the conversation for some buyers, London’s advantage lies in the ease of transition — English is widely spoken among Turkish buyers — combined with a cultural cachet that few other cities can match.
Our Take
The pattern we’re seeing among Turkish clients mirrors what we’ve long observed with other waves of international buyers: political and economic uncertainty at home tends to accelerate, rather than dampen, interest in prime London real estate. With Turkey’s wealthy population continuing to expand rapidly and political uncertainty unlikely to ease in the near term, we expect Turkish buyer activity in prime central London to remain a significant feature of the market.
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