Property sales to foreigners soar in Turkey but domestic demand falls

ANKARA

Property sales to foreigners soared by 70 percent to 2,677 units in October but overall sales across the country saw a year-on-year fall, official data showed on Nov. 23.

Overall sales in Turkey were down by 5.7 percent in October compared to the same month of last year, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).

Istanbul was the top province for sales to foreigners, with 1,321 sales in October. It was followed by the Mediterranean province of Antalya with 465 units and the northwestern province of Bursa with 121 units and Yalova with 108 units. The Aegean province of Aydın followed them with 93 property sales.

Saudi Arabian citizens came top of the list of countries with the highest number of property sales, buying a total of 528 houses in Turkey in October.

Saudis were followed by Iraqis with 344 units, Azerbaijanis with 278 units, Kuwaitis with 154 units and Russians with 125 units, TÜİK data showed.

Total property sales in Turkey in October were down by 5.7 percent, falling to 122,882 units.

Istanbul took the lion’s share with 17 percent of overall property sales, followed by the capital Ankara and the Aegean province of İzmir.

The lowest number of properties were sold in the eastern provinces of Hakkari with just eight units, Ardahan with 15 units, and Şırnak with 38 units.

In October, mortgaged property sales throughout Turkey fell to 38,593, a drop of 19.8 percent compared to the same month of last year. Mortgaged property sales therefore had a 31.4 percent share of all property sales in the country, according to TÜİK.