Over 150,000 homes sold in June, up 12 percent

ISTANBUL

Home sales increased by 11.7 percent from a year ago to a total of 150,500 units in June, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

Mortgage-financed sales grew nearly 41 percent year-on-year to 40,610, accounting for 27 percent of all home sales last month, up from the 24 percent share in May.

First-home sales grew by 11.6 percent to a little more than 40,000 units in June, while second-hand home sales exhibited an annual increase of 11.8 percent to 94,630 units.

As was the case in the previous months, the property market in Istanbul, a city with a population of over 15 million people, was the most vibrant. Some 28,000 homes changed hands in the metropolis last month, which corresponded to 18.6 percent of all home sales in Türkiye.

Ankara came second at 13,000 homes sales and a share of 8.8 percent, followed by the western province of İzmir, where 8,200 homes - 5.5 percent share - were sold last month.

In May, the annual increase in home sales – 123,000 units - was 107 percent while mortgage-financed sales leaped by nearly 178 percent - 11,000 units.

From January to June, home sales across the country increased by 31.4 percent from 553,000 units in the first half of 2021 to more than 726,000 this year.

Mortgage-financed home sales also registered a 63.5 percent year-on-year rise to over 170,000 units.

First-hand sales were up 24 percent, while second-hand home sales grew nearly 35 percent.

Property sales to foreigners

TÜİK also reported that foreign nationals purchased a total of 8,630 houses in Türkiye last month, marking a robust 81.8 percent increase from a year ago.

Sales to foreigners constituted 4.9 percent of all home sales in the country.

Foreigners bought 2,451 houses in Istanbul. Popular holiday destination of the southern province of Antalya ranked second with 1,885 sales, followed by the province of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast, with 264 units.

Russians that bought 1,275 properties in June in Türkiye topped the list of foreign homebuyers. Iranians and Iraqis purchased 736 and 617 units, respectively. German and Ukrainian nationals also bought 247 and 241 homes, respectively, last month.

Antalya has become a shelter for Russians and Ukrainians who fled the ongoing war, buying and renting houses there, which boosted the property market in the province.

In the first six months of 2022, home sales to foreigners increased by 70 percent from a year ago to 26,753 units, TÜİK data also showed.