Bodrum Property Is Moving Upmarket
4 May 2009
The channels may hint at Italy, but this genteel new gated Bodrum property development, with its large pastel-coloured, shuttered houses, is more reminiscent of Venice, Florida. One thing is certain as you peer across Portville, a thought springs to mind: I cant believe its Turkey.
With its Venetian-style bridges that arch across channels as clear as bottled Evian, Portville is a picture of relaxing holiday perfection. The gin-and-tonic terraces in front of the fine waterfront houses catch the evening sun over the mountains and the daytime sparkle from the bay where Demi Moore and Bill Gates recently pitched up in their yachts.
The cheap developments are still there, of course in Altinkum, the Benidorm of the Aegean coast, you can still buy a new flat for as little as 25,000, although strong domestic demand has meant the state has averted a Spanish-style collapse. Slowly but surely, however, high-quality properties with true architectural appeal are cropping up along the coastlines, particularly the southwest stretch from Bodrum to Kas, where most of the 21,000 British property owners in Turkey have purchased.
Both have been made more appealing by the relative weakness of the Turkish lira, which has remained fairly steady against the pound over the past year, while the euro has surged.Bodrum is definitely moving upmarket, with foreign buyers discovering recent developments that were originally designed for wealthy Turkish individuals, says Murat Ergin, managing director of the estate agents ipropertyoverseas in Istanbul. Overseas property in Bodrum, after all, is all about cheap, isnt it? Cheap holidays (never more so than now, as Brits clamour to escape the eurozone) and cheap (and occasionally nasty) holiday homes. In the most desirable areas, such as Bodrum or Gocek, or new hidden gems such as the hilltop Aegean towns of Urla or Milas, prices are 1,350-2,700 per square metre, and the quality is definitely at upper western standards.
