Property sales to foreigners soar in Turkey but domestic demand falls

ANKARA

The number of properties sold to foreigners in Turkey rose significantly in November, but domestic sales decreased to 122,732 units with a 7.5 percent year-on-year decline, official data showed on Dec. 22.

Mortgaged house sales across Turkey also declined 23.9 percent to 37,250 units in November, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed.

Mortgaged house sales had a 30.4 percent share of all house sales in Turkey.

The termination of property incentives late in September, the current housing loan rates and the extending payoff in property rents played a key role in the decline in property sales, which started in October, according to analysts.

Property sales across the country rose 42.4 percent, 4.7 percent and 28.8 percent in July, August and September, respectively, but declined nearly 6 percent in October with a 19.8 percent decrease in mortgaged house sales.

The number of properties sold to foreigners, however, surged 21.4 percent on year-on-year basis in November, as incentives for foreign property buyers still continued.

Of the total sales, 2,152 houses were sold to foreigners, approximately 34 percent (or 728 units) of them in Istanbul, the country’s largest city by population.

Following Istanbul, the Mediterranean holiday resort city of Antalya came second with 491 properties, while the northwestern province of Bursa ranked third with 142 units.

The figures also showed Iraqi citizens topped the list of buyers with 405 properties, followed by Saudis with 239 units, Kuwaitis with 151, Russians with 135 and Afghans with 105.

A total of 20,070 properties were sold to foreigners in the first 11 months of the year with a 21.3 percent year-on-year increase, according to TÜİK data.