Turkey’s property sales to foreigners soar 65 pct in July

ANKARA

Property sales to foreigners in Turkey soared 65.3 percent in July compared to the same period in 2016, as domestic sales also saw a huge increase, official data has shown.

A total of 1,726 properties were sold to foreigners in July, with Iraqis being the top buyers, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Aug. 24.

The figures showed that Iraqis topped the list with 293 properties, followed by Saudis with 248 units, Kuwaitis with 142, Russians with 118 and Britons with 76.

Nearly 31 percent (or 528 units) of the total sales to foreigners were in Istanbul, the country’s largest city by population.

The Mediterranean resort of Antalya came second with 386 properties, while the Black Sea province of Trabzon came third with 121 units.

The number of residential properties sold in Turkey also advanced by a 42.3 year-on-year increase in July, according to TÜİK data.

In July 2017, a total of 115,869 houses were sold across Turkey. This also constituted a 19 percent increase compared to the previous month.

Istanbul again had the highest share of house sales with 15.6 percent, followed by the capital Ankara with 10.1 percent and the Aegean city of İzmir with 5.6 percent. 

The lowest number of houses were sold in eastern provinces in Ardahan with eight units, Hakkari with 17 and Şırnak with 41.

In July 2017, a total of 38,575 house ownerships were changed by mortgage sales with a 62.4 percent increase compared to the same month of the previous year.