Turkey: Residential property sales slip in September

ISTANBUL

Residential property sales in Turkey dropped 6.9% year-on-year in September, the country’s statistical authority announced on Thursday.

A total of 136,744 houses changed hands last month, down from 146,903 in the same month last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

Housing sales to foreign buyers increased 5.1% in September on a yearly basis to 5,269 units.

With 2,370 units, Istanbul, the country’s largest city by population, enjoyed the lion’s share of sales to foreign buyers.

The Mediterranean holiday resort city of Antalya followed with 1,018 properties, while the capital Ankara came third with 347.

Iranians purchased 908 units across Turkey in September and were the largest group of foreign buyers according to nationality, followed by Iraqis with 826 and Russians with 448.

Meanwhile, in the first nine months of 2020, house sales increased 34.2% year-on-year to reach 1.16 million units.

In the same period, foreigners bought 26,165 houses in Turkey, down by 18%.