Is it expensive to live in Turkey?
Is it expensive to live in Turkey?
For those who have decided to move to another country and are already eyeing apartments in Turkey, the question of how expensive life in the South Republic becomes and what expenses are coming to those who plan to live in their own apartments becomes very important.
Taxes and costs of property maintenance
The first thing that needs to be said, and that every owner of an apartment or villa in Turkey should know - all owners pay an annual property tax. The amount is small, but you should not forget about it either.
The amount of duty that will need to be paid to the state treasury is calculated from the cadastral value of the property (the one that is registered in Tapu). In most cases, it is below the market. They underestimate the cost in order to pay less taxes both for the purchase and in the future for the maintenance of real estate.
How to calculate this tax? The duty on real estate in Turkey is 0.2-0.4% (depending on the type of property). Therefore, if the amount of 100,000 lire is registered in your Tapu, then you will have to pay from 200 to 400 lire per year.
It is important to know that the cadastral value of an apartment or a villa can be recalculated annually. Therefore, the amount of tax may also vary. But not at all.
Monthly expenses for an apartment
In Turkey, there is no such thing as rent. But there are still monthly fees.
Those who buy apartments or villas in Turkey in comfortable complexes usually pay aydat (monthly maintenance). It includes lighting and cleaning of the area, swimming pool, use of the gym, sauna and other amenities, as well as services of the caretaker of the complex (kapydzhi). In short, every month you pay for the amenities that are located within the complex.
The amount of aydat depends on the infrastructure. The more extensive it is, the greater the monthly payment will be. In most well-equipped complexes, this amount is on average 50-60 euros.
You will also have to pay for electricity and water. In Turkey, there is no central heating and hot water. On the Antalya coast, in winter, they mostly heat the rooms with air conditioners and use an electric water heater. In some new complexes in Antalya held natural gas.
Water and electricity in Turkey are paid according to the meter readings. And it’s very difficult to predict how many kilowatts of electricity and cubes of water are used. But in general, if you use air conditioners (not 24 hours for a span) and other appliances, it is quite possible to keep within 150-200 lire a month. Plus for water 30-40 lire.
Of course, these amounts can be both lower and higher. Everything depends entirely on your needs.
Registration of residence permit (ikameta)
If you plan to live in Turkey permanently, or at least more than two months every half a year, then you will need to apply for a residence permit.
Property owners in Turkey can issue a residence permit for up to 2 years, and subsequently extend it.
For this you will need to pay insurance. The cheapest for the year will cost about 200-250 lire. But it is necessary to take into account the fact that the insurance amount depends on the age, so it can change both upwards and downwards.
Also, foreigners pay tax to the Turkish treasury for registration ikameta. Here we will not call the amounts, because the amount of the duty depends on the citizen of which country is a foreigner.
There are companies that help in the design of a residence permit. If you plan to use their services, then a certain amount will also have to be budgeted.
Food and other expenses
One of the primary human needs is the need for food. And many of us want to eat high-quality organic products. Fortunately, in Turkey, abound.
Here year round in the markets you can find fresh vegetables and fruits straight from the garden. A hike to the bazaar for groceries for a week costs an average of 100 lire per family.
Add to this the cost of meat, milk, cheese, bread and other necessary foodstuffs - you will get another 100 lira a week.
On average, about 400 lire per person per month per product, 800 for two people.
Of course, this amount can also be both more and less, it all depends on your needs. If you constantly eat delicacies, then spending on food can grow into several thousand lire.
Do not forget about the cost of telephone and Internet. On average, a package that includes about 500 minutes, 1000 sms and a few gigabytes of traffic costs 30-50 lira per month. Plus home Internet - about 60 lire.
Transportation costs are also one of the necessary budget items. Traveling in Alanya around the city by bus costs 3 lira. So if you go out somewhere every day, you will have to spend 180 lira a month.
In general, if you count the monthly necessary expenses, then 1000-1500 lire will be enough for one person.
Of course, such items as clothing and household chemicals should be counted separately. And here the level of requests is different for everyone. So in Turkey there are brands of their own production, and, both cheap and premium class.
For example, in Waikiki, DeFacto, Koton prices are more than reasonable. But İpekyol, Kiğlı, Vakko is already a higher level clothing. But we will tell you about this in one of our following articles.
All prices presented in this material are valid for 2018. Prices may vary depending on the exchange rate and natural inflation. And, of course, monthly expenses will depend entirely on your needs and requests.
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