Turkish Residential Property Sales to Foreigners Booming

Turkish residential property sales to overseas property investors are booming in 2019 according to official data released this week.

The number of Turkish residential properties sold to foreigners surged by 92 per cent year-on-year to 3,321 units last month, according to the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).

The figure was already up 78 per cent last year when compared to 2017, proving the longevity of interest in the Turkish residential property market by overseas property investors.

Turkish residential property sales to foreign investors also rose in January by 82 per cent year-on-year.

Turkey’s largest city by population, Istanbul was the most preferred location by foreigners with 1,440 sales in the month. It was followed by the resort city of Antalya with 672, and the capital Ankara with 196, TÜİK reported.

The steep rise in Turkish residential property sales to foreigners was in stark contrast to domestic sales, which declined by 18.2 per cent on an annual basis to a total of 78,450 units. That followed the 24.8 percent year-on-year decline in house sales recorded in January.

Despite the downturn in sales however, prices for Turkish residential property continue to rise, up by 7.6 per cent in January from a year earlier.

According to data, house prices increased by 3.17 per cent on an annual basis in Istanbul, while prices rose by 8.63 per cent year-on-year in Ankara.

The bank also said house price index for İzmir, Turkey’s third largest city, increased by 3.46 per cent in the month from a year earlier.

The headline new housing price index rose 8.75 per cent in January compared to the same month of last year while the existing housing price index showed a 7.07 per cent rise.

It seems that despite a downturn in the number of sales to Turkish nationals, Turkish residential property is still appealing to overseas property investors, as prices continue to rise in Turkey.