Where in Europe have property prices increased the most since 2015?

The price of an apartment in Istanbul is now in close competition with those in infamously expensive cities such as Paris and London, as figures show that Turkish house prices are 12 times higher than they were nine years ago in nominal terms. 

Among OECD member states, northern European countries such as Sweden and Finland have seen the smallest change, with more than 4% increases in nominal housing prices since 2015. 

On the other end of the scale sits transcontinental Turkey, followed by Hungary, where prices are 166% more than they were in 2015. 

The majority of OECD countries saw their house prices rise well into the double digits between 2015 and 2023. Still, Turkish prices particularly stand out from the crowd, pushing the rental prices so high that even the country's central bank governor can't afford to rent.

However, while Turkish housing prices have risen gradually since 2015, they only started climbing at a brake neck speed in 2021.

They reached their peak in 2022, when house prices went 168% up in a year, followed by a rise of 76% in 2023. 

Meanwhile, across Europe and the US, house prices took a hit in late 2022 as central banks in these economies started hiking up interest rates to tackle high inflation, which pushed up mortgage rates in the process.

On the flip side, the Turkish central bank lowered its benchmark rate in August 2022, even though in November of that year inflation in the country was close to 85%.

Experts put the soaring escalation of nominal property prices in Turkey down to a mix of reasons. 

"The actual change starts from 2020," said Görkem Yapan, real estate and construction sector leader for the Turkish market at KPMG. "The main reasons I believe, are the currency fluctuation, the devaluation