Property sales decline across Turkey for third consecutive month

ANKARA

Home sales continued to decrease across Turkey in April during a three month period, official data has shown.

Some 103,087 properties were sold in April by a nearly 10 percent year-on-year decline, data showed on May 18, with mortgage sales seeing a significant decline.

Istanbul again boasted the largest share of house sales with 16.9 percent, or 17,414 houses, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).

It added that the capital Ankara and the Aegean province of İzmir racked up 10,352 (10 percent) and 6,418 (6.2 percent) of total home sales, respectively.

A total of 27,912 mortgaged properties were sold in April by a 35.6 percent year-on-year decline. Home sales with a mortgage had a 27.1 percent share of all home sales in Turkey, according to TÜİK data.

The government and the sector have recently boosted their efforts to give a boost to home sales.

Three umbrella organizations of 41 Turkish housing and construction companies have recently announced that home buyers will be given a 20 percent discount on house prices in the upcoming month, ahead of snap elections on June 24.

“We are conducting a 30-day campaign starting from May 15 until June 15. Accordingly, we have decided to make a discount of 20 percent in cash and credit purchases. This is a huge step. This is a big figure for us, a big sacrifice,” Housing Developers Association (KONUTDER) chair Ziya Altan Elmas said at the launch event of the campaign in Istanbul on May 15.

Down payments for mortgages will be reduced to 5 percent, according to the statement.

Turkish state-run Ziraat Bank on May 10 announced that it would lower its interest rate for home loans with a maximum maturity of 10 years and an amount up to 500,000 Turkish liras ($117,000) to 0.98 percent from 1.23 percent. Halkbank, another public bank, and private banks also followed suit.

Sales to foreigners 

Meanwhile, the number of properties sold to foreigners in April surged 25.8 percent year-on-year, according to TÜİK data.

Of the total sales, 2,043 homes were sold to foreigners, including 676 units in Istanbul.

Following Istanbul, the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya came second with 475 properties, while the northwestern province of Bursa ranked third with 150 units.

The figures showed Iraqi citizens topped the list of buyers with 337 properties, followed by Saudis with 252 units, Iranians with 138, Kuwaitis with 116, and Russians with 112.