Purchasing property in Turkey : an analysis of motivations and constraints for British consumers

The market for second home purchases abroad has grown rapidly in the last fifteen yearsbecause of the growth in demand from Europeans looking for a place in the sun. Turkey isone of the most popular European countries in which to purchase a second home and the UKis its largest geographic market segment. Despite these developments, second homepurchases have hitherto been neglected in the tourism academic literature. This studyattempts to address this gap in our knowledge by investigating second home purchasing inTurkey by UK residents. In particular, it examines the motivations and constraints of Britishconsumers, using a mixed method approach consisting of semi-structured interviews withestate agents, developers, potential buyers and property owners and an e-questionnaire surveyof property owners and potential buyers. A wide range of statistical procedures and tests wereused including exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical multiple regression.Significant differences were found between the motivations and constraints of propertyowners and potential buyers. They were also differentiated in terms of both the length of timethey spent searching for property and the types of properly considered and purchased. Thefindings highlight the changes in the demands of British consumers and the fashions in theTurkish property market over time. Significant differences in both property owner andpotential buyer motivations and constraints were also found and on the basis of respondentsocio-demographics, geographic area and destination of purchase/potential purchase andproperty type. Another key finding was the identification of three distinct market segments:holiday, retirement and investment. The results also show that these segments aresignificantly differentiated on the basis of socio-demographics, motivations and constraints.Length of property occupancy and the destinations considered and/or purchased are also significant differentiating variables. Segment profiles were developed on the basis of thesecharacteristics. The study's contribution to the tourism literature and the practical implicationsof the findings are discussed