Turkish house sales to foreigners hit record level as lira slides

Turkish house sales to foreigners jumped 48.4% to a record level in November, official data showed on Dec. 14. The property market was generally buoyant in November, with overall sales rising 59% year-on-year to 178,814 houses.

Tuesday December 14 2021 12:09 pm

Reuters

Turkish house sales to foreigners jumped 48.4% to a record level in November, official data showed on Dec. 14, as a slump in the value of the lira made purchases significantly cheaper for those buying with hard currency.

The property market was generally buoyant in November, with overall sales rising 59% year-on-year to 178,814 houses, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) figures showed.

The 7,363 properties sold to foreigners was the highest monthly level since the data series began in 2013. By far the highest number of foreign buyers were Iranian citizens, followed by Iraqis and Russians.

The lira slumped to a record low of 14.99 against the dollar on Dec. 13, representing a halving in the value of the currency this year. At its current level of 14.2 it is more than 40% weaker than at the start of September.

Property sales to foreigners have been strong throughout the year, rising 39.4% in the first 11 months, while total house sales actually fell 9.2% in the 11-month period, compared to a year earlier.

The most popular place for house sales to foreigners was Istanbul, with 2,922 sales, followed by the southern resort of Antalya and the capital Ankara.

The data also showed November mortgage sales climbed 61% from a year earlier to 39,366, accounting for 22% of the total in the period.

Last year, sales surged due to pandemic-era cheap loans from state banks, prompting real estate developers to launch campaigns for buyers.