Last Updated on 26/01/2023
Overview of house sales in Turkey in March 2022
House sales in Turkey continued to rise in March, reaching their highest level ever. According to figures released recently by the Turkish Statistical Institute, this situation is partially due to a surge in international buyers’ interest.
Despite rising prices, experts claim that data shows that people continue to see real estate as a viable investment option. In fact, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported that house sales increased by 20.6 % year over year to 134,170 units in March 2022. It is the highest March record up to date.
House sales in Turkey in March 2022
In March 2022, house sales in Turkey climbed by 20.6% over the same month of the previous year. It reached thus 137,170 sold units. Unsurprisingly, Istanbul took the lead with 17.9% of the market and 23 thousand 974 housing sales. Ankara and Izmir followed Istanbul with 9.4 % and 6.0 %, respectively. Yet, Tunceli province had the lowest number of sales, recording 103 homes sold.
Statistics of house sales in Turkey between January-March 2022
By observing the same source data for the early months of 2022, we can conclude that house sales in Turkey grew by 21.7 % in January-March compared to the same period of the previous year. Similarly, House sales raised by 22.5 % in January-February compared to the same period in 2021.
House sales by type in March 2022
First-time house sales in Turkey
In March 2022, first-time house sales in Turkey climbed by 14.9% compared to the same month in 2021. Therefore, it reached 38,337 units. Moreover, first-time home sales accounted for 28.6% of all home sales in Turkey.
Second-hand house sales
Second-hand housing sales in Turkey grew by 23.1 percent in March 2022 compared to March 2021. In Turkey, second-hand sales consisted of 71.4 % of all home transactions. Likewise, Second-hand housing sales grew by 23.5 % in January-March compared to the same period the previous year, to 225 thousand 626.
House sales made to foreigners in March 2022
A total of 5,567 houses were sold to foreigners in March 2022. W can observe that this number increased remarkably after 4248 in March 2021. Consequently, we can conclude an increase of 31.0 %. Furthermore, house sales made to foreigners accounted for 4.1 percent of all house transactions.
We should mentşon that Istanbul came in front with 2,245 sales to foreigners, followed by Antalya, with a thousand 434 house sales, and Ankara, with 347 properties sales to foreigners.
Top nationalities of house buyers in March 2022
Official data shows that most foreign house sales were made to Iranian citizens. To clarify, they purchased 784 properties in Turkey in March 2022. In the second position came the Iraqi nationals with 741 house sales. However, Russian ranked 3rd with 547 properties.
House sales to Russians increase
We can easily notice an increase in the demand for properties for sales in Turkey from Russians. In fact, the number above-mentioned increased by 30,54% compared to March 2021. Furthermore, we also noticed an increase compared to the previous months of the current year.
Moreover, according to Reuters, after investigating numerous property companies, wealthy Russians have been investing remarkably in real estate in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, seeking a safe financial shelter after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions. To clarify, since the attack on February 24, many sanctions have been applied, including Russia’s withdrawal from the SWIFT banking system. Facing this situation, Turkey has condemned Russia’s offense. Yet, Ankara opposes non-UN sanctions against Russia. Furthermore, Turkey has relatively excellent ties with Moscow and still provides direct flights, providing perhaps a way out to Russians and their money.
We should remind that Russians have been important buyers of Turkish properties after Iranians and Iraqis. However, real estate experts affirmed a surge in demand in recent weeks.
A new reform in Turkish Citizenship application by Real estate
Another fact has been increasing Foreign house sales in Turkey in recent weeks. Following the Turkish presidential cabinet meeting on April 12, 2022, it was announced that the minimum value would increase to 400,000 dollars instead of 250,000 dollars. However, this new adjustment will take effect after an official publication in the official gazette.
Consequently, foreign investors interested in Turkish citizenship acquisition by real estate investment are rushing to buy property in Turkey and benefit from the Turkish citizenship investment program before the value increases officially.
If you would like to know further details about the real estate investment in Turkey, MEO Consultants offer you a complete advisory.
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