Real estate research and education in Turkey

Real estate was always considered to be a traditional investment choice in Turkey because of the unavailability of other investment alternatives, such as stocks and bonds, before the establishment of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) in 1986. According to the results of the 1994 Household Income Distribution Survey, the home ownership rate in Turkey was very high by international comparison, at 70.88 percent. In addition, most of household incomes are used for housing-related expenditures. However, despite the importance of real estate to Turkey, research and education in this field have been very limited. Education has developed as the need has arisen, while research has been carried out as the necessary data have become available. In this paper, first, the background to the Turkish real estate market will be described. Then, the real estate professions, education and research in Turkey will be discussed.