Serhan Ulkucu and his wife had to bargain hard with their landlord before they could seal a deal to renew the annual lease for their family home in the Istanbul neighbourhood of Bostanci.
The monthly rent for the family’s two-bedroom flat, where they live with their seven-year-old son, has increased by 147 percent in a year, from 4,650 Turkish liras to 11,500 liras (about $600) – 25 percent more than the minimum wage in Turkey.
