Turkish developer Mesa has started work on a new 4,000-home settlement in Istanbul’s Başakşehir district, with an announced investment of $1.5 billion, excluding the value of the land, daily Hürriyet reported.
The project, called Mesa Yenikent, sits on 2 million square metres of privately owned land next to the Sazlıdere Bridge, which the newspaper described as the first bridge built for the Kanal Istanbul waterway project. Mesa Holding CEO Mert Boysanoğlu said the land had no link to the public sector and that the company had agreed a revenue-sharing deal with the landowner, a common model in Türkiye in which the developer and landowner split sales proceeds instead of the land being bought outright.
Phases, prices and delivery
According to Hürriyet, the project took about two and a half years to plan and will be built in five stages over seven years. Construction began about five months ago and earthworks for the first stage have been completed.
The first stage comprises 843 homes, and Mesa has opened a further 300-unit section after strong sales. Flats range from two-bedroom (2+1) to 6.5+1 layouts, and prices in the new stage start at 9 million lira. Delivery of the first stage is planned for June 2028.
Half of the site, 1 million square metres, is set aside for landscaping. The low-rise scheme will include walking and cycle paths, playgrounds, an indoor swimming pool, sports areas, schools, health facilities and shops. Boysanoğlu said buyers increasingly care about the living environment rather than square metres alone, and argued that new projects must adapt to climate conditions, ideally with an even split between permeable and sealed surfaces. The comments come after deadly floods hit Istanbul earlier this month.
Mesa expects access to improve once connections to the Sazlıdere Bridge and the Northern Marmara Motorway are completed. Başakşehir, on Istanbul’s European side, has grown rapidly around the new city hospital and the route towards Istanbul Airport.
A developer with a long track record
Board Chairman Erhan Boysanoğlu said Mesa built one of Türkiye’s early satellite towns, Bahçeşehir, in 1989, and has completed about 7,000 homes. Its earlier Ankara schemes helped shape the Çayyolu and Batıkent districts. He said housing sales are currently sluggish but expected activity to pick up by the end of 2027, citing population growth, changing family structures, earthquake risk and home-ownership trends.
The launch follows weak official figures showing Turkish home sales fell 9.3% in September, while state-backed developers continue to tender large Istanbul plots, such as Emlak Konut’s Halkalı Batı stage.
Foreigners considering an off-plan purchase in projects like this should check the developer’s guarantees and the title deed status of the land; our guide to buying property in Türkiye as a foreigner and Istanbul living guide explain the steps.
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Photo: Sakhalinio / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
