Subletting surges in İstanbul amid housing crisis

Photo: AA/File

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Amid the exorbitant increase in İstanbul's rental prices over the past couple of years, tenants in the city increasingly rent their apartments to others for short periods of time.

The average rent price for a 120 square-meter apartment in the metropolis rose from 3,473 lira in April 2021 to 10,229 lira in November 2022, according to Endeksa, a real estate website (1 US dollar = 18.62 Turkish lira). In some districts, average prices exceed 20,000 lira.

A 25 percent rent increase cap introduced in July proved ineffective, as prices for new rentals continued to increase. 

The annual disposable income per capita in the city was less than 52,000 lira last year, according to official figures. Hence flat sharing is becoming more and more common.

Two people interviewed by bianet said renting their rooms enables them to pay their rent and make extra income.

"My apartment was sold and the [new] landlord now wants a much higher rent than I was paying. In order to pay my rent, I rent my flat or rooms to other people through the Airbnb application," said Mine Y.

"In this way, I pay the rent of my apartment, and sometimes I also get some money that helps me to make ends meet. Actually, there are very few people who don't do this right now; it's very common. Even if you compromise your comfort and share your apartment, it's profitable."

"It's humiliating"

Mine Y. said she also rents other people's apartments through Airbnb in exchange for commissions. "This is where I make the real income. It's like a sector now. People make money just by messaging over the app about the requests. It's also as common as renting apartments."

However, she said, what she does is also "humiliating" in one regard. "You have to buy the best stuff for the guests coming through Airbnb. You buy the best toilet paper or soap. Or, for example, I rent the larger room and I keep the small room. However, it's the room that gets less light and is one of the most unusable areas of the home."

Sometimes she rents the entire flat and stays at her friends' homes, she said. "It's of course difficult, but I'm not in a situation to think about my own comfort in this economic crisis. I have to choose between my comfort and being able to have shelter."

Renting to foreigners

Veysel K. lives in Beyoğlu, one of the most popular tourist areas in İstanbul, where the average rent price is over 15,000 lira.

He said he prefers tourists over locals because they pay higher. When he rents his home for a month, he earns three or four months' rent, he said.

"The only thing you need to pay attention to is trying not to get bad reviews," he said. "You need to get a high score showing that you are a good host. Because, if there are complaints about you, you don't get preferred after one point."

However, he said, constantly changing places because renting his own home is psychologically demanding. "I have keys to most of my friends' homes. If I'm going to rent my house through Airbnb, I stay at another person's place every week.

"Since everyone is Airbnb-ing right now, nobody cares about it. Because [my friend] rents their home next month and stays at my place."

*We have not disclosed the surnames of the two people because tenants are prohibited from renting their homes to third persons according to the Code of Obligations. (TY/VK)