Ranked seventh in the UN’s most-visited global destinations list, Turkey’s appeal to holiday homeowners is proven, but the country’s bullish economy is increasingly attracting a different kind of buyer – the buy-to-let investor.

Recently released figures reveal why property investors have developed a hunger for Turkey – figures from the Turkish Government show that foreigners invested in excess of $1.3 billion in the country’s property market last year. On a tourism level, the country welcomed an incredible 28.63 million visitors in 2010 and the sector continues to grow and be a primary contributor to the nation’s national income. Istanbul alone has seen a 30.1 per cent increase in tourist revenue this year, helping Turkey’s so-called City of Desire become the 34th richest city by GDP in the world, according to data from PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

However, serious investors will be aware that at present there is a shortage of residential homes across the country, especially in urban areas such as Istanbul, which is currently on the receiving end of massive internal migration. With this in mind, the projected demand of 2.9 million houses by 2015 is attracting buy-to-let investors.

And according to Julian Walker at agent Spot Blue, “there are opportunities in other cities as well as Istanbul, for example in Antalya on the southern Mediterranean coast”. To browse all property there and all over Turkey, visit Rightmove Overseas’s Turkey property listings.

To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in Turkey, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘Turkey Property Buying Guide’