Record Residential Property Sales to Foreigners in Turkey

Record sales to foreigners have been recorded in the Turkish residential property market over the first quarter of 2019.

A total of 9,618 houses were sold to foreigners in the first quarter of the year, the best first quarter figure in history, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

In the same first quarter period last year, 5,298 houses were sold to foreigners, therefore recording an increase of 81.5 per cent this year.

In March, foreign residential sales surged by 71.3 per cent over the same month the previous year, increasing from 1,827 to 3,129 units. Therefore, Turkey’s residential sales to overseas property investors saw the best first quarter and March figures in history.

Istanbul remains the favourite Turkish destination for overseas property investors, with foreigners purchasing 1,520 properties in March, a rise of 173.4 per cent from the 556 purchased in the same month last year.

Antalya is the second most preferred city in foreign residential sales with 626 units, followed by Ankara with 173, Bursa with 121, Yalova with 110 and Sakarya with 104 units.

Istanbul achieved the highest increase in foreign residential sales, followed by Ankara with an increase of 158.2 per cent and Sakarya with 55.2 per cent.

In the first quarter of the year, 4,321 houses were sold to foreigners in Istanbul. Antalya came second with 1,899 houses, followed by Ankara with 561, Bursa with 490, Yalova with 410, Sakarya with 319, Mersin with 210, Samsun with 196, Trabzon with 155 and Izmir with 134 houses.

Looking at the nationality of owners in Turkey, Iraqis maintained their leadership, by increasing the number of properties purchased from 348 last year to 548 this year.

Iranians came second with 334 houses, followed by Saudis with 189 houses, Russians with 156 houses and Afghans with 150 houses.

In the January-March period this year, 1,781 houses were sold to Iraqis, 946 to Iranians, 587 to Russians, 507 to Afghans, and 440 houses to Saudis.

105,046 residential properties were sold in Turkey last month, and even though overall sales were down 5.3 per cent in March, compared to the same period last year, sales to foreigners rose significantly.