New record in housing sales to foreigners

TurkStat announced the number of house sales as of the end of February. With the sales of 97 thousand 587 houses in Turkey in February, there was an increase of 20.1 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. Istanbul took the first place with 18,752 houses sold. The second was recorded as Ankara with 8 thousand 464 houses, the third as İzmir with 5 thousand 575 houses, the fourth as Antalya with 4 thousand 727 houses and the fifth as Bursa with 3 thousand 354 houses. Housing sales increased by 22.5 percent to 185 thousand 893 in January-February compared to the same period of the previous year.

FOREIGNERS BUY THE MOST HOUSING IN ISTANBUL

Housing sales to foreigners increased by 54.9 percent in February compared to the same month of the previous year and became 4 thousand 591. In February, the share of house sales to foreigners in total house sales was 4.7 percent. In the January-February two-month period, foreigners bought 8,777 residences throughout Turkey. Compared to January-February last year, there was an increase of 55.6 percent. The top 10 provinces with the most housing sales to foreigners in 2 months; Istanbul 3 thousand 729, Antalya 2 thousand 13, Ankara 557, Mersin 435, Bursa 278, Izmir 242, Yalova 233, Samsun 208, Sakarya 196, Trabzon 156.

11 PERCENT OF SALES BELONG TO UKRAINE AND RUSSIA

In Antalya, which is the second in the list of provinces where foreigners purchase the most housing in Turkey, Russians and Ukrainians come first according to sales in the previous years. Helmann Consturaction Chairman of the Board Selman Özgün, who is also a member of sector organizations such as GYODERD and İNDER, announced that the share of Russians and Ukrainians who purchased housing in Turkey, especially in Antalya, increased to 11.2 percent in 2021. Ozgun said, “11 out of every 100 houses sold in 2021 were bought by Russians and Ukrainians. Out of 58,282 houses sold to foreigners in 2021, 5,379 were bought by Russians and 1246 by Ukrainians.”

RUSSIANS RANK THIRD

Stating that the Russians are the 3rd in the list of the citizens of the country that buys the most houses in Turkey, and the Ukrainians are the 13th, Özgün said, “Another remarkable data is the number of houses sold to the citizens of the two countries in 2021, 83.4% compared to the previous year. The rate of increase in total sales was 43.5 percent. The increase in investments, almost twice the average, is striking. Especially Russians have always been in the top 3 in the list of the country that bought the most housing for the last 3 years. Ukrainian citizens in the January-February period of this year 13 He went up from the ‘third place to the 8th place’.

‘WAR LOWERS SALES’

Stating that the war between the two countries will negatively affect the housing sales for Russia and Ukrainians, Özgün made the following warnings:

“After the war and the economic embargo and sanctions imposed on Russia, there are serious problems in this country. The fact that the Central Bank of Russia limits the money transfer of real persons abroad to 5 thousand dollars per month will directly affect the housing purchase of the citizens of this country. Here, especially the Russians, serious decreases in housing purchases. “However, considering that an increase of around 20 percent is expected in Turkey’s housing sales to foreigners this year, sales throughout the year will be less affected. The minimum number of 70 thousand units expected for the end of the year may be slightly lower, but we will close 2022 with an increase again.” (DHA)