Turkish houses sold over double to foreigners in August

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

Residential property sales in Turkey to foreigners more than doubled in August compared to the same month last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported Wednesday.

"In house sales to foreigners became 3,866 by increasing 129.6 percent compared to the same month of the previous year," TurkStat said in a statement.

More than a third of sales were in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city by population, with 1,141 sales in the month, followed by the holiday resort city of Antalya with 675 units, and the northwestern province of Bursa with 305 units.

The figures revealed that Iraqis topped the list of buyers with 944 properties, followed by Iranians (394), Saudis (275), Kuwaitis (271) and Russians (192).

Last month, a total of 105,154 houses changed ownership by second-hand sales, down by 12.5 percent year-on-year.