Türkiye announces major public housing project

ANKARA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday a social housing project which he said was the largest ever in the history of the Republic of Türkiye.

The government will construct 500,000 social housing units, 50,000 workplaces, and provide 250,000 residential plots across the country in five years between 2023 and 2028, Erdogan said at the launching ceremony of the project in the capital Ankara.

The housing campaign targets the low-income citizens of Türkiye whose income is below 18,000 Turkish liras (986 U.S. dollars) in Istanbul and 16,000 liras in other provinces, he said.

The government will lay the first foundation of the projects at the beginning of 2023, he added.

The prices will start from 608,000 liras for houses, 350,000 liras for workplaces, and 192,500 liras for lands, said the president.

The project aims to boost the supply of residential units and help rein in the housing prices and rentals, which have become a major problem in the country in the past few years.

Over the past year, the cost of land in Türkiye has grown by an average of 20 percent. Land plots with direct access to the sea have almost doubled in price in coastal cities like Izmir and Antalya.

In addition, the cost of building materials has sharply increased amid rampant inflation of over 80 percent.

Facing the rising property prices and rents, the Turkish parliament approved on June 8 legislation that limits rent increases to a maximum of 25 percent.