Empty or Low Use Homes in İstanbul

Housing issues could be defined as a global issue rather than local differences in policies or outcomes. While inequalities in the housing market take different forms, people experience difficulties in accessing affordable housing to buy or rent. In the same environment, a significant number of people leave their property completely empty or use it for a short period of time in a year. In other words, empty and under-used homes such as derelict properties, second or holiday homes and short-term lets have emerged as an alternative market that dominates the housing market but is not actively used in it. This paper will focus on İstanbul as a case study to examine the impact of empty and low use homes on the housing market in the Turkish context, based on official and unofficial data as secondary data. Due to its geographical location and tourist sites, it has always been an attractive place for short or long term visitors. At the same time, the city of İstanbul emerges as an important place for the investors who use their property as a second home or keep it completely empty. Finally, this paper illustrates global level issue in the context of İstanbul and it is generalisable for many of the other both Turkish cities and the same size of cities.