Antalya’s Location on the Map
Investment analyst Valerii Emelianov mapped 100 cities across two axes: cost of living and quality of life. Antalya and Bursa landed in the “cheap but good” zone. We directly checked the data behind the chart and compared it side by side with Turkey’s own market figures.
WHAT THE MAP SAYS
Emelianov’s analysis, based on Numbeo data, describes three groups. Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Berlin are expensive, but they deliver value in return. Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and London — the cities most sought after by migrants — do not; their high costs do not translate into a proportionate quality of life. Antalya and Bursa fall into the third group: low cost, yet high quality-of-life scores. We could not directly access the original chart, so we took the figures from its source rather than from the graphic itself — Numbeo’s 2026 Mid-Year indices confirm the claim.
| CITY | QUALITY OF LIFE | COST | RENT | PURCHASING POWER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bursa | 168.3 | 40.4 | 9.6 | 71.9 |
| Berlin | 166.8 | 72.5 | 34.6 | 110.8 |
| Antalya | 157.9 | 41.1 | 12.5 | 60.8 |
| New York | 137.3 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| London | 135.8 | 88.0 | 66.9 | 98.3 |
| Istanbul | 124.9 | 46.6 | 22.8 | 60.7 |
Source: Numbeo, Quality of Life and Cost of Living Index, Mid-Year 2026. New York = 100 for the cost and rent columns.
Antalya’s quality-of-life score is higher than those of London and New York — at less than half the cost.
THE SECOND SENTENCE THE DATA ADDS
The same table does not allow the first sentence to stand alone. Antalya’s purchasing power index is 60.8, Bursa’s is 71.9, while Frankfurt’s is 139.5. These cities are not only inexpensive; local incomes are also low. The ratio of property prices to annual household income also shows a clear difference: 6.24 in Bursa and 9.36 in Antalya. In Antalya, the upper end of property prices is determined not by local income but by demand from outside the region.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR REAL ESTATE
Turkey’s own data aligns with this picture. According to TÜİK, 2,120 homes were sold to foreigners in July 2026 — 1.7% of total sales nationwide. In Antalya, around 10.5% of the 6,305 homes sold that month went to foreign buyers — six times the national average. What buyers choosing Antalya are often purchasing is not simply the property itself, but the environment around it: a climate index of 91.5, a safety index of 71.0, and rental costs at approximately 12.5% of New York’s level. On the price side, the benchmark is this: Emlakjet’s July 2026 report puts the average price per square meter in Antalya at TRY 55,495; Endeksa’s May 2026 data puts the province-wide payback period at 17 years, with the longest payback periods in the coastal districts where foreign demand is strongest. Affordability and return are not the same thing — the map shows the former, not the latter.
SHORT NOTE
Numbeo is not an official statistical institution; its data is compiled from user contributions, and currency movements can shift a city’s position in the index even when no prices change. It should be read alongside TÜİK and Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) series.
The conclusion that remains valid even after the sale is this: Antalya is among the cities that give you value for what you pay — not because it is cheap, but because its climate, safety, and rental costs are disproportionately favorable relative to its overall cost.
GRAND EMLAK
