Turkish Real Estate Firm Antalya Homes Now Supports Bitcoin Payments

Turkish real estate firm Antalya Homes announced that its customers can now pay for properties listed on its platform with Bitcoin (BTC).

According to a June 15 announcement, Antalya Homes claims to have recorded the highest-valued real estate sale ever made while using Bitcoin as a payment in Turkey.

Per the company, the coronavirus pandemic forced the real estate industry to innovate. More precisely, Antalya Homes reacted by offering virtual home tours and adding support for Bitcoin on its website. The firm’s chairman Bayram Tekce explained:

“In the sale of a villa in Antalya, we recorded visuals of the house with a drone and did an online viewing tour with the customer. Then, we brought the buyer and the seller together on an online meeting and finalized the negotiations. Antalya Homes brokered the payments with Bitcoin. This sale, worth [$1.25 million], was the highest valued property sale ever made by Bitcoin in Turkey.”

Antalya Homes’ website features a dedicated “Pay with Bitcoin” section, which notes that the company also facilitates payments with XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Tether (USDT), Stellar (XLM) and Ether (ETH).

Cryptocurrency use in the real estate market

The fees imposed on big transactions by traditional financial services make such payments a good use case for cryptocurrencies. For instance, real estate investor Ben Shoaul sold a condo in Manhattan’s Upper East Side for $15.3 million, but in Bitcoin.

In October 2019, a 150-year-old English church was also offered for sale for $1.5 million worth of Bitcoin.