Turkish housing sales slip in February

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

The number of residential properties sold in Turkey dropped annually in February, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed on Wednesday.

"In Turkey, house sales decreased by 5.4 percent in February 2018, compared to the same month of the previous year and hence, became 95,953," TurkStat said.

Istanbul -- Turkey's most populated city and one of its top tourist attractions -- boasted the largest share of house sales with 16.9 percent, or 16,227 houses, the institute said.

The capital Ankara and the Aegean province of Izmir followed Istanbul with 9,686 (10.1 percent) and 5,965 (6.2 percent), respectively.

Housing sales to foreigners

TurkStat data showed that the number of properties sold to foreigners soared by 32.4 percent year-on-year in February.

Some 1,729 houses were sold to foreigners, with approximately 35 percent (or 604 units) of them in Istanbul.

It was followed by the Mediterranean holiday resort city of Antalya with sales of 415 properties.

Official data showed that Iraqis topped the list of buyers in the month with 308 properties. Saudis followed with 178 units, Russians 128 units, Iranians 122 units and Afghans 118 units.