Home sales increase for second month in a row

ANKARA

Home sales rose by 9.9 percent in August from a year ago, following a 16 percent annual increase recorded in the previous month.

In August, 134,155 homes changed hands, marking a 5.6 percent increase from July, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Sept. 17.

The year-on-year decline in mortgaged home sales slowed from 21 percent (11,496 units in July) to 17 percent (13,574 units in August).

The share of mortgaged home sales in total increased from 9 percent to 10 percent.

Most of the home sales in August took place in Istanbul. Some 19,467 residential properties were sold in the mega city. The capital Ankara came second at 12,496, followed by İzmir, the country’s third largest city by population, at 7,000.

From January to August, a total of 806,317 homes changed hands across Türkiye, pointing to a 1.1 percent increase from the same period of last year.

Mortgaged sales were down nearly 50 percent year-on-year to 76,485 units.

Last month, foreigners bought 2,257 homes in the country, a 26.2 percent decline from August 2023.

Istanbul remained foreign homebuyers favored the real estate market. In August, 838 homes were sold to foreign nationals in the city.

In the popular tourist destination of Antalya, foreigners purchased 969 homes.

As was the case in the past months, Russians constituted the biggest group of buyers. They bought 381 properties in Türkiye in August, down from 733 units a year ago.

In the first eight months of 2024, home sales to Russian nationals declined 59 percent annually to 3,289 units.

Iranians bought 1,392 homes in January-August, down 57 percent from a year ago, while home sales to Ukrainian nationals were down 13 percent year-on-year to 1,057.

Meanwhile, data from the Central Bank showed on Sept. 17 that the pace of annual increase in the residential property price index (RPPI) continued to slow.

The index rose by 34.35 percent in August from a year ago, easing from the 38.7 percent year-on-year increase in July. 

The RPPI was up 3.6 percent monthly, but the index decreased by 11.6 percent compared with August 2023 in real terms, the bank said.

In Istanbul, residential property prices increased by 27 percent year-on-year, while the annual increases in Ankara and İzmir were 35.6 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively.