What Is The Estimated Cost For Living In Istanbul?
One of the first things that anyone who would consider living in Turkey permanently or temporarily would think is to find the best place for them in terms of socio-economic factors. As the cost of living changes for all the countries, it also depends on the place in Turkey. We will be talking about the expenses and prices in Turkey for you to have an idea before you move into this country.
One of The Cheapest Cities in Europe
Istanbul is the biggest metropolitan city in Turkey. Like other countries’s metropolis, Istanbul has higher prices on accommodation, bills, food, and other necessary needs. However, according to studies made on the expenses of major cities and the data collected about the subject, Istanbul is still cheaper than other big cities like London, New York, and Paris.
Like you can guess, rent covers most of the expenses in Istanbul. An average rent cost of an apartment in Istanbul varies between 1000 TL to 1500 TL. However, you have an option to share a flat with a friend. This makes life so much easier in this city. Rent prices decrease if you go to other big cities like Izmir or Ankara. Each kilometre you go outside of these big cities expenses go down. On the Aegean coast, rent prices vary around 500 TL to 700TL. But if you want to live in Istanbul we can suggest picking the district.
Central districts close to touristic areas like Kadikoy and Besiktas are more expensive than district like Sisli. You can always find the best neighbourhood for you in Istanbul. Only thing that would change is the money you would spend on public transportation but that will not make much difference if you compare with the differences on rent prices.
Annual Property Running Costs
If you are planning to buy a place in Turkey, costs will change depending on the size of the property you would have.
1: Apartment Maintenance Fee: First of all, if you own a place in a collective housing project, you will have to pay the monthly expenses for the maintenance of any facility which the housing has. These facilities can be a game room, a garden, swimming pool, security, etc. All of these would cost approximately 200 TL to 400 TL monthly. Expenses change according to the number of facilities that the housing has.
If you have a detached house, other expenses that we mention below will upfront since you are able to plan the expenses on maintenance.
2: House Insurance: To make earthquake insurance is a legal obligation in Turkey if you own an apartment or detached-house. The cost of the insurance depends on the meter square of the place you own and the average cost of it is around 200TL annually. There are many international insurance companies in Turkey where you can have also insurance for fire, theft, and other damages besides the earthquake insurance.
3: Council and Rubbish Tax: This tax is calculated according to the number of people who are recorded to the title deed of the house. So, a house with two bedrooms has 150 TL costs for the tax annually.
Household Utility Bills
Electricity and natural gas are provided by different companies or institutions in each region of Turkey. Anyway, the prices for the bills are almost the same in all the cities in Turkey.
1: Electric: Electricity costs approximately 100 TL to 150 TL in many cities of Turkey. The cost generally does not increase and you can get even cheaper electricity bills.
2: Water: Water bills are the cheapest among the others and it costs around 70 TL. If you have a big house with a garden then you can expect 200 TL cost water bills a month.
3: Internet and Telephone: There are so many different internet and telephone providers in Turkey and thanks to the rivalry between them you can have reasonable annual agreements for the internet and telephone, also including television. The average internet bill costs around 50 TL to 80 TL, however, faster internet rises the cost.
Food, Drink, and Cigarettes
Turkey has many local supermarkets which have reasonable prices for meat, vegetable, dairy products, etc. Some of these supermarkets have websites that give sale services that you can use and get well discounts on many products. However, you can always find the best quality vegetables, dairy products, fruits, bread, and meat with cheaper prices in local bazaars. You can find these bazaars in some neighborhoods in the city, on some days of the week.
Red meat prices vary between 60 TL to 80TL per kilo. For white meat (chicken) the price goes down to 12 TL per kilo. Fish prices change according to the kind of fish and the season. The most common fishes cost around 20 TL to 30 TL.
You can find dairy products in every market. They don’t cost much but the quality is the determinant factor in here. Other foods wouldn’t push your economy and with some research about the places to buy from, you can have good food and drink with the best prices.
Cigarette prices are expensive as much as can make smokers upset. Pack of cigarettes costs around 15 TL. Cheaper way of smoking is to buy tobacco from tobacco shops. But it is hard to find good ones in small cities.
Residency and Healthcare
Even though the policies of residency changes frequently in Turkey, applying and having a residence permit and also health care is not so hard. Applying for a residence permit in Turkey costs 370 TL for the first time appliers. Renewing the residence permit you have, cost 225 TL. Health care can be done with government institutions but you have an option to make it with special companies. But you need to search well about the insurance companies because; not all of them work with government hospitals. It is easier but also a more expensive way of having health care in Turkey. You might want to try this easy way because the price of health coverage of SGK (state institution for health care) is 420 TL.
Conclusion for the cost of living in Turkey
Overall, probably you will find Turkey cheaper than you expected. Especially if you have a good income in foreign currency it will be easy to live in Turkey. If we calculate all the expenses together, everything will cost around 2000TL to 2500 TL to live in Istanbul. If you live in smaller cities or even in Izmir or Ankara, this price will decrease. Living in a small coastal town will cost you 1000 TL to 1500 TL if you rent a place. Whatever the cost of living, it will worth to see the beautiful nature of Turkey and having friendly, helpful and hospitable neighbour.
