Property sales to foreigners fall by over 14 percent in April

Iraqis topped the list, buying a total of 276 properties, followed by Kuwaiti citizens who bought 172, Saudi citizens who bought 165, Afghanistan citizens who bought 115, and Russians who bought 96 properties, according to Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) data released on May 24. 

Istanbul was the most popular province with 540 sales to foreigners in April, followed by the Mediterranean resort of Antalya with 360 house sales and the northwestern province of Bursa with 116 house sales, according to the TÜİK data. 


Around 11 percent drop in overall property sales

Across Turkey, home sales dropped by 10.9 percent in April compared to the same month of 2015, with a total of 106,348 units sold. Istanbul had the highest share with 18.4 percent of total home sales and 19,537 units sold. The lowest number of properties was sold in the southeastern province of Ardahan with just seven units, followed by Hakkari with 13 units and Şırnak with 18 units.

The number of mortgaged home sales throughout Turkey was 33,429, a decline of 27.4 percent compared to the same month of 2015. Home sales with mortgages had a 31.4 percent share in all property sales in Turkey in April 2016, according to the TÜİK data.