Turkey records over 81,200 house sales in February

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Turkey recorded 81,222 house sales in February, slipping 31.6 percent from the same month last year, the country's statistical office revealed March 15.

Nearly 24,737 newly built houses were sold while the rest were second-hand sales last month, TÜİK said in a statement.

Istanbul, Turkey's largest city by population, had the highest share of residential property sales with 19.6 percent or 15,929 sales.

It was followed by the capital Ankara and the Aegean province of İzmir with 7,757 and 4,659 house sales, respectively.

This February, property sales to foreigners fell 26 percent on a yearly basis, reaching 2,964 units.

Istanbul was the top location with 525 sales last month to foreigners, followed by the holiday resort city of Antalya and the capital Ankara.

Iranian citizens topped the list of buyers as they bought 477 properties in February.

“This was followed by Iraq with 432 house sales, Russia with 259, Afghanistan with 230 and Kazakhstan citizens with 119 house sales,” the statement read.

This January-February, property sales in Turkey totaled at 151,809, down from 232,368 million in the same period last year.

In the first two months this year, foreigners bought 5,639 houses in the country, an annual decrease of 28.7 percent.