Turkish residential property sales recover in November

ISTANBUL

House sales in Turkey increased by 59 percent in November compared to the same month of the previous year, increasing to 178,814, according to official data announced on Dec. 14. 

Istanbul had the highest share of monthly house sales with 31,706, making up 17.7 percent of the total transactions, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said

Ankara followed the metropolis with total house sales of 17,117, while İzmir was third with 11,116.

Comparing the first 11 months of 2021 and last year, total house sales in Turkey decreased by 9.2 percent to 1,265,353.
In November, mortgaged house sales constituted 22 percent of all house sales with 39,366, up 61 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.

In January-November period, mortgaged house sales decreased by 55.4 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and stood at 249,270.

As the Central Bank has cut its key interest rate gradually from 19 percent in August to 15 percent lost month, the three state lenders also lowered housing loan rates.

Experts now expect the uptrend in house sales recorded in November to accelerate this month.
House sales to foreigners were also up, with 7,363 sales indicating a 48.4 percent increase year on year.
Almost 3,000 houses were sold to foreigners in Istanbul, while non-Turkish citizens bought 1,917 houses in the Mediterranean province of Antalya and 428 houses in the capital Ankara.

Iranian citizens topped the list of foreign buyers, as they bought 1,406 houses in Turkey last month. Iraqi citizens bought 1,075 homes, while 836 houses were sold to Russians. Buyers from Germany (322), Kazakhstan (278), Afghanistan (231), Azerbaijan (185), Kuwait (185), Palestine (169) and Ukraine (163) followed them.

In the first 11 months of this year, house sales to foreigners jumped by 39.4 percent year on year and reached 50,735.
The average price of a residential property sold to foreigners was around $196,000 as of October, up 21 percent from January, according to the Real Estate International Promotion Association (Gigder). The data for international property sale prices in the final quarter will be available next month.

Turkish developers and real estate agencies are expecting a total amount of about $7.5 billion in sales to foreigners this year.

Construction costs up 42 percent

Construction cost index increased by 41.93 percent annually and by 4.75 percent monthly in October, according to the latest available data.

Material index increased by 6.15 percent and labor index increased by 1.06 percent compared with the previous month.
In the same month, material index rose by 50.47 percent and labor index soared by 22.62 percent compared with October 2020.

Construction cost index for civil engineering increased by 41.24 percent annually and by 6.04 percent monthly.
The rapid increase in construction costs prompt buyers act quickly with expectations that prices will soar in the upcoming months, according to analysts.