House for Sale in Ayvalık: Stone House, Flat, Sea View over Cunda

An evening on Cunda: you sit by the harbour, fish on the table, the sun going down behind Lesbos. In the morning, coffee in the courtyard of your stone house, and on Thursday, olives, cheese and herbs from the villages at the market. In the afternoon, a bay in the south where there are three other people besides you.

Location, lifestyle, access: Ayvalık

Ayvalık sits on the northern Aegean in Balıkesir province, with Lesbos opposite. Edremit-Körfez airport (EDO) is just under an hour away, Izmir (ADB) about two.

Quiet, beautiful, a little bit artistic. The old town with its stone houses, the island of Cunda with its fish restaurants, the bays in the south. Artists and retirees from Istanbul discovered Ayvalık long ago, foreigners hardly yet.

Airport

Edremit-Körfez airport (EDO) and Izmir (ADB)

Who Ayvalık suits

• A retirement home with character
• A holiday home on the Aegean without mass tourism
• Buyers who love old stone houses

House for sale in Ayvalık: house, flat or plot

Buying a flat in Ayvalık

Flats are available near the coast and in the small complexes south of the town.

Buying a house or villa

Stone houses in the old town and on Cunda are what Ayvalık is known for, often in need of renovation.

Buying a plot

Plots with olive trees in the surrounding countryside. We check their status and whether you can build on them beforehand.

By the sea, with sea views or an affordable start

In Ayvalık you get sea views from the hillsides above the town and on Cunda, often from old stone houses with a terrace. Living by the sea here means bays rather than long beaches, and villas with a pool stand on the hillsides south of the town. You can start affordably with a stone house that needs renovating or a flat near the coast, while fully renovated old town houses cost correspondingly more. We give you prices for specific properties.

Why Ayvalık

• Old town, islands and olive groves
• Peace and quiet, bearable even in summer
• Cheaper than Bodrum or the south coast

What to keep in mind in Ayvalık (and what we handle for you)

• Small market, so be patient with the search
• Longer journey from the UK and Europe

Alpa Abi, the team and Ayvalık

In Ayvalık we work with local people we trust. We search, have the house viewed, send you photos, video and an honest opinion on its condition, check the Tapu (title deed), the building permit and, for old buildings, the heritage status, and calculate the additional costs. Advice costs nothing.

Costs and process

Tapu fee 4 per cent, valuation report from about 5,000 lira, DASK (compulsory earthquake insurance): together around 4 to 5 per cent on the purchase price in Ayvalık. How the purchase works from the first conversation to the keys is set out in the buying process guide, and the figures are in the purchase costs guide.