Annual increase in home prices continued to slow in April

ANKARA

The annual increase in the Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) further slowed in April, rising 48.4 percent last compared with 51.9 percent in March, data from the Central Bank have shown.

The year-on-year increase in the index reached as high as 189 percent in September 2022 but started to come down steadily in the following months.

In real terms, adjusted for inflation, home prices in Türkiye declined by 13.3 percent in April, the Central Bank said on June 25.

The average unit price was 32,444 Turkish Liras per square meter, the data showed.

In Istanbul, home prices surged 37.6 percent in nominal terms to 46,213 liras per square meter, while the annual increase in residential property prices in the capital Ankara was 58.9 percent to 25,610 liras per square meter.

In the western province of İzmir, the country’s third largest city by population, home prices rose 45.1 percent from April 2023 to 38,029 liras.

The RPPI for new dwellings increased 51 percent year-on-year in nominal terms, slowing from the 52.8 percent annual rise recorded in March.

The RPPI for existing dwellings, which surged 52.5 percent in March, exhibited an annual increase of 49 percent.

The monthly increase in home prices in nominal terms, however, accelerated from 1.2 percent in March to 2.2 percent in April, the Central Bank said.

Prohibitively high home prices, as well as problems with accessing loans, are widely blamed for the weak sales in the Turkish housing market.

The annual decline in home sales continued for a third month in a row this year in May.

Home sales fell by 2.4 percent last month from a year ago to 110,588 units, after plunging nearly 12 percent year-on-year in April, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported earlier this month.