Turkey sees sharp rise in property sales to foreigners in first months of 2018
ANKARA
Turkey’s property sales to foreigners reached 1,742 units in January, with a 25.7 percent year-on-year increase, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).
Nearly 97,000 properties were sold across the country with a slight year-on-year increase in the mentioned period, data released on Feb. 21 also showed.
Iraqis became top property buyers in Turkey in January with 272 units, followed by Saudis with 160 units, Afghans with 124 units, Russians with 121 units and Kuwaitis with 108 units.
Istanbul was the top destination for foreign property buyers as 545 houses were sold in January, according to TÜİK data. The Mediterranean resort of Antalya followed it with 424 properties being sold to foreigners.
Last year, foreigners purchased over 22,000 properties in Turkey.
Significant decline in mortgaged house sales
Last month, 97,019 homes were sold in Turkey, according to TÜİK data with a 1.7 percent year-on-year increase.
Istanbul boasted the largest share of house sales with 16.8 percent, or 16,336 homes, according to TÜİK data.
Ankara and the Aegean province of İzmir followed Istanbul with 9,720 (10 percent) and 5,841 (6 percent) property sales respectively.
Home sales with a mortgage represented 29.6 percent of all home sales in Turkey, TÜİK said.
Mortgaged home sales across Turkey amounted to 28,678 units in January, marking a 20.3 percent year-on-year decrease compared to the same month of last year.
