Monthly residential property sales up 51 pct in Feb

Residential property sales in Turkey continue its upward trend, jumping 51.4 percent in February, compared to the same month last year, the country's statistical authority announced on March 16.

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said in a statement that some 118,750 houses changed hands last month, up from almost 96,000 in the month a year earlier.

February figure was also up from the previous month when property sales were around 113,600 in January.

Housing sales to foreigners were also on the rise during the same period, going up 20.6 percent to some 4,000 units.

Top attraction Istanbul

Istanbul is the most popular city for foreign buyers, constituting nearly half of the sales to foreign buyers - almost 2,000 units.

The Mediterranean resort city of Antalya followed it with 805 properties, while the capital Ankara came third with 265.

Regarding the property sales to foreigners, the highest number of sales were made to Iranians who bought 721 units in February. They were followed by Iraqis with 691 house sales, Russians with 282, Afghans with 256, and Jordanians with 141.

Commenting on data, Ahmet Erkurtoğlu, the deputy head of the Contractors' Association on Istanbul's Anatolian side, said house sales to foreigners were also up compared to 2018.

"There will be a slowdown in sales to foreigners due to coronavirus in the coming months," Erkurtoğlu stressed.

He highlighted that a 53.5 percent rise in the first two months' figure is owed to interest rates of less than 1 percent for housing loans and deposits.

"Real estate has always been a safe investment tool," he added.

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