Gold in taxi licenses!

If you are from Turkey, forget having doubled your money by buying stocks; the best investment would have undoubtedly been a taxi license plates. Over the past nine years, it has tripled in value. Prices have risen about 10% to 1.05 million liras ($580,000), over the past 12 months. And it is actually bought and sold like an investment instrument.

Small shops serve as trading hubs and it even has a dedicated website – taksiplakasi.com which provides the price data. It is a very active market and a sale within half hour can get you cash within a week, similar to the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

Why this mad fascination for license plates? Last year, Istanbul’s population reached 13.8 million, up from 9.2 million in 1997 but the number of taxi licenses has been stagnant at 17,353. Thus there is one cab per 800 unlike 662 in New York and 362 in London. World over there is restriction on the number of licenses issued for taxis but none is as bad as Turkey. And where there is scarcity there is a market opportunity and that is precisely what the people of Turkey are cashing in on. Yes, today, a taxi license plate holder is a richer than a stock broker in Turkey!