Of every 100 houses sold in August, 11 in Istanbul and 18 in Antalya went to foreigners. In 8 months, foreign home sales exceeded 30 thousand and broke a record. Real estate experts say regulation about granting foreigners citizenship for 250 thousand dollars have increased demand and first hand prices, consequently.
Along with the increase in house prices and rents worldwide and in Turkey, experts have been discussing the reasons for this trend.
Property seen as an investment tool rather than residential purposes, an imbalance between supply and demand, low interest campaigns and sales to foreigners that countries make to attract resources from abroad, along with an increase in construction costs, stand out in the debate as reasons for the increase in house prices.
In Turkey, the increase in home sales to foreigners has been noticeable after the government's regulation that provides for citizenship for those fpreigners who buy real estate worth 250 thousand dollars and above.
FIGURES APPROACH A NEW RECORD IN AUGUST
According to the data announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) today, 5 thousand 866 houses were sold to foreigners in August. This was the highest sales figure after the record of 6,276 units in October 2018. Home sales to foreigners rose by 50.7 percent in August compared to the same month a year earlier.
In sales to foreigners, Istanbul took the first place with 2,729 houses, followed by Antalya with 976 house sales, Ankara with 400 house sales, Mersin with 242 house sales and Yalova with 233 house sales.
According to the nationalities, the highest number of sales was made to Iranian citizens. In August, Iranian citizens bought 911 homes from Turkey. Iranian citizens were followed, respectively, by Iraq with 900 units, the Russian Federation with 451 units, Afghanistan with 313 and Kuwaiti citizens with 264.
SALES TO FOREIGNERS EXCEED 30 THOUSAND IN 8 MONTHS
January-August sales to foreigners, compared to the same period of the previous year increased by 47.6 percent to 30 thousand 849.
As of the first eight months, 2021 was at an all-time peak with 30,849 units of sales. In the first eight-month period, 20,896 houses were sold in 2020, 27,479 in 2019 and 18,540 in 2018.
