Turkish house sales continue to rise in April with support of ongoing sale campaigns

ANKARA

The number of residential properties sold in Turkey surged by 7.6 percent year-on-year in April with the support of ongoing house sale campaigns with lower prices and interest rates, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on May 24.        

A total of 114,446 houses were sold across Turkey in April, with mortgage sales taking 38 percent of the share in sales, TÜİK said. 

Ahead of the April 16 referendum, property sales showed a 10 percent hike in March and a total of 128,923 units were sold across the country. 

Analysts, however, expect some slowdown in the sales in May and June following a highly hot March and a relatively lively April, mainly due to the holy month of Ramadan, which usually sees a slowdown in such activities. 

Meanwhile, the number of properties sold to foreigners increased by 2.7 percent year-on-year to reach 1,624 in April.        

Commenting on the new data, Melih Tavukçuoğlu, head of the Istanbul Anatolian side Contractors’ Association, said the increase in the number was due to properties sold to foreigners.

“Although a 2.7-percent increase looks like a slight rise, it sounds promising. The number of properties sold to foreigners decreased by 20 percent in the previous months,” he said, as quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency.

“This [increase] shows that the trust of foreigners in Turkey improved and value-added tax reduction for foreigners as well as granting citizenship to foreign investors who buy real estate in Turkey worth a minimum of $1 million affected house sales positively,” he added.         

Istanbul, the country’s largest city by population, enjoyed the lion’s share of those sales to foreigners, with 35 percent (or 571 units).        

Following Istanbul, the holiday resort city of Antalya came in second with 385 properties, while the northwestern province of Bursa ranked third with 109.        

The figures showed that Iraqis topped the list of buyers with 245 properties, followed by Saudis with 185, Kuwaitis with 169, Russians with 99 and Afghans with 81.