Turkey's Dogus Real Estate sets rates for foreign currency rent

Turkey’s Dogus Real Estate Investment Trust said it would fix exchange rates for foreign currency rents at four of its commercial properties in October, after Turkey banned real estate rent in foreign currencies. Turkey ruled in September that property sales, rental contracts and leasing transactions must be made in lira, halting the use of foreign currencies for such deals in a fresh step to support the ailing local currency. The currency has currently lost around 37 percent of its value against the dollar this year on concerns over President Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on monetary policy and a diplomatic row between Ankara and Washington. Dogus REIT said in a filing to the Istanbul bourse that it would fix the euro exchange rate for October at 5.90 to the lira at two locations and 4.9 lira to the dollar at the other two. The trust is the real estate arm of DogusHolding , which operates in construction, energy, media, tourism and automobiles, where it is the sole Turkish importer and distributor for Volkswagen. Reasons for the decision were demands from the tenants with “narrowed business volumes” and the negative effects of exchange rates, Dogus said. It added that it was expecting an announcement from the Treasury and Finance Ministry regarding cases that would be considered exceptions to the new rent regulations.