House sales up 7 percent in February

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

House sales in February were up 7 percent year-on-year, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) said in a statement on March 24.

In overall sales, Istanbul maintained its top spot with almost 17.8 percent of house sales. The capital Ankara and the western province of İzmir followed with 10,694 and 6,480 house sales, respectively.      

Mortgages for house sales in February fell to 30,455, a decrease of 17.6 percent compared with 36,952 in the same month of the previous year, the statement said.      

Interest rates on home loans were more costly after key rate holds were carried out numerous times by Turkey’s Central Bank since last year.

Currently, the mortgage rate is between 1.15 and 1.40 percent on a monthly basis.      

Purchases of new homes rose by 16.6 percent to 47,409 in February compared with the same month of last year, while existing-home sales decreased by 0.1 percent last month year-on-year to 54,294.      

Foreigners bought 1,585 houses, an increase of 15.8 percent compared with 1,369 in February last year, including 555 houses in Istanbul, 328 in the southern holiday resort province of Antalya and 141 houses in the western province of Bursa.      

Some 365 houses were bought by Iraqi citizens, followed by 159 by Kuwaiti citizens.