Why Turkey

Investing in Turkish property has been a good move for a while now. That's because the economy and tourism are both taking off in a big way. In fact, Turkey has one of the fastest-expanding economies in the world. In some quarters recently, its GDP has been twice that of any other EU nation.

The booming tourism industry is backed up by strong banks that have survived the global recession. The result is that the prices of Turkish property have been rising and shrewd investors have piled in, enjoying huge financial benefits.

But there are still bargains to be had. Investment property in Turkey is still superb value for money, owing to the strong position of the Turkish lira, and it's built to a very good standard, too. Wise property investors are heading for Turkey, because they know they'll get both great capital gains and rental yields.

So what about the Turkish economy - just how much is it booming? Well, from 2002 to 2010, GDP rose from US $230 billion to US $736 billion, an average increase year on year of 4.8%. This growth rate is forecast to increase to 6.7% until 2017. Turkey is now the world's 16th largest economy, with more than US $94 billion of foreign direct investment over the last eight years.

On top of this, Turkey has a population of 74 million, with the biggest youth population among the EU, which it's set to join in 2013. Half of Turks are aged under 29 and there are around half a million graduates from 150 universities. That means 25 million young, dynamic, well-educated professionals.

Further economic strength comes from business-friendly conditions - it takes just six days to establish a company in Turkey, all investors get equal treatment, and there are over 25,000 businesses with capital invested overseas.

The infrastructure - in the shape of transportation, telecommunications and energy - is first class and newly developed, and there are well-established transportation and delivery routes to EU countries. As if that weren't enough, Turkey has always been strategically well positioned, being at the crossroads of East and West.

All of which adds up to a great deal for the would-be property investor.