Heavy penalties on the way for exorbitant price hikes in real estate listings
The Ministry of Trade has taken significant steps to combat misleading listings in the real estate sector. The Ministry has begun investigating listings that mislead buyers with 1 TL price tags and has had some removed. Meanwhile, heavy penalties will be imposed for exorbitant price increases.
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The Ministry of Trade has introduced new regulations to combat manipulative pricing and misleading listings in the real estate sector. The Ministry determined that some real estate agents were attempting to mislead buyers by entering symbolic prices, such as 1 TL, instead of the actual value in residential sales listings. It was determined that such listings were used as a deceptive tactic to attract the attention of consumers.
Although real estate agents argued that they wrote 1 TL because price information is mandatory on platforms, the Ministry did not find this explanation sufficient. The Advertising Board stated that such listings are misleading and deceptive to consumers and ordered the removal of 10 listings.
HEAVY PENALTIES FOR EXORBITANT PRICE HIKES
The Ministry has also banned price increases in online listings that are inconsistent with general economic data and are not based on a justifiable reason. When such increases are detected, an administrative fine of 200 thousand TL per listing will be imposed on the property owners.