In Turkey’s big cities, rents and housing prices have skyrocketed amid rampant inflation, which recorded a 58% annual increase in January, which was actually the lowest level in 11 months.

According to the Rental Housing Market Outlook December 2022, which was released by Istanbul's Bahcesehir University Center for Economic and Social Research, rents increased by 148% in Istanbul, 150% in Ankara and 160% in Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city.

In Ankara, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom flat is about 7,000 liras (£305), while in Istanbul, the price is around 12,000 liras (£525), according to Turkey’s real estate platform the Association of Real Estate Investment Companies.

To protect low- and middle-income citizens, the Turkish government set a cap of 25% on rent increases in 2022, but few landlords are apparently abiding by the rule, which is set to end in July 2023 amid an increasing number of legal disputes between homeowners and tenants.

According to statistics released by the Confederation of Public Servants Trade Unions in September last year, the number of civil servants looking to move away from metropolitan areas to smaller cities tripled in 2022 compared to 2021 or 2020.