Annual increase in home prices eases again

ANKARA

The home prices across Türkiye rose by 68 percent in January annually, easing from the 75.5 percent year-on-year increase in December 2023, data from the Central Bank have shown.

In January 2023, the annual increase in home prices was 153 percent and had even hit 189 percent in September 2022.

The residential property price index (RPPI) advanced 2.3 percent in January from the previous month, the Central Bank said on March 18.

The monthly increase, however, accelerated from 1.2 percent in December 2023.

In real terms, the annual increase in RPPI was 1.4 percent in January.

The RPPI for new dwellings climbed 68.5 percent, while the year-on-year increase in the index for existing dwellings was 68.1 percent.

The average home price in Türkiye was 30,900 Turkish Liras ($957) per square meter, according to the numbers from the bank.

In Istanbul, residential property prices rose by 54.5 percent from a year ago, with prices standing at 45,130 liras per square meter. The annual increases in new and existing dwellings in the country’s largest city were 56.2 percent and 53.3 percent, respectively.

In Ankara, prices of residential properties surged 85.6 percent compared to January 2023 to 24,373 liras/square meter.

In the western province of İzmir, Türkiye’s third largest city by population, the annual increase in the RPPI was 70.4 percent to 35,685 liras.

High property prices were largely blamed for the decline in home sales for months.

However, Türkiye’s housing market bounced back in February. In February, a total of 93,902 homes were sold across the country, pointing to a 17.3 percent increase from the same month of last year.

Home sales declined constantly between August and December 2023. The contraction in the housing market continued into the first month of 2024, when residential property sales plunged 17.8 percent year-on-year.