Are houses in Turkey only sold to foreigners?
We will share some numbers of who is buying property in Turkey.
Faruk Akbal, President of GIGDER, stated that the share of foreigner property buyers of the total housing sales in some European countries, Canada and the USA last year was around 10 percent, and said, “The rate of sales to foreigners in Europe is twice that of Turkey.” So how many foreigners are buying property for sale in Turkey? The number of foreigners who are buying property in Turkey increased by 31 percent in March compared to the same month last year and became 5 thousand 567. The citizens of the countries that buy the most property for sale in Turkey are Iraq, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
In the statement made by the Real Estate Overseas Promotion Association (GIGDER), it was stated that the housing sales market to foreigners, which is growing every year in the world, has reached its peak in Europe and that the leading countries make an average of 10 percent of the total housing sales to foreigners.
10 percent in Canada and 4 percent foreigners buying property in Turkey!
Faruk Akbal, President of GIGDER, reported that last year, foreigners had a 9 percent share in total housing sales in Spain and 11 percent in Portugal. “The latest data released in Canada shows that one in 10 houses is bought by a foreigner. The number of purchases of foreigners in the US is above the 100 thousand band,” Akbal said, and made the following evaluations:
“In countries such as Germany and Italy, this rate is around 9-10 percent. In Turkey, 58 thousand of the 1.5 million housing sales in 2021 were sold to foreigners. In other words, the share taken from the total sales is at the level of 4 percent. In the latest July 2022 data, the share of housing sales to foreigners was at the level of 4 percent. In other words, the rate of sales to foreigners in Europe is twice that of Turkey. Domestic demand for property for sale in Turkey is very, very high.”
Not at a level that will affect the market in Turkey
Akbal, when the share of foreigners in housing sales is examined on a city basis, 9 percent in Istanbul; It was reported that it was realized at the level of 2 percent in cities such as Bursa, Gaziantep and Ankara.
Faruk Akbal said, “The sale of housing to foreigners in Turkey is not at a level that will affect the price or affect the market as in Europe. However, housing shows that it is the safest haven against inflation with the premium it provides. Domestic investors emphasize that they see this premium by not reducing their demand despite the increasing housing loan costs.”
House sale records in May.
Let’s have a look at the data of foreigners buying property in Turkey from last year. Housing sales to foreigners in Turkey increased by 31 percent in March compared to the same month last year and became 5 thousand 567. Last month, the share of housing sales to foreigners in total housing sales was 4.1 percent. The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced the housing sales statistics for March. Accordingly, 134 thousand 170 housing units were sold in Turkey in March.
The number of houses sold in March increased by 37.5 percent compared to February and by 20.6 percent compared to the same month last year. In February, 97 thousand 587 houses were sold.
In housing sales, Istanbul had the highest share with 23 thousand 974 housing sales and 17.9 percent. This province was followed by Ankara with 12 thousand 609 housing sales and 9.4 percent share, and İzmir with 8 thousand 51 housing sales and 6 percent share. The provinces with the lowest number of housing sales were recorded as Ardahan with 25 houses, Bayburt with 82 houses and Tunceli with 103 houses, respectively.
With TurkStat’s data for May 2022, it exceeded 145 percent as of May. Foreigners bought 49 out of every thousand houses sold in the first half of 2022. This rate is much higher in Antalya and Istanbul. 257 out of every thousand houses sold in Antalya in January-June; In Istanbul, foreigners took 111 of them. Foreigners bought 314 thousand 310 houses in Turkey in 9.5 years. Accordingly, 25 out of every thousand houses sold between 2013 and 2022 were bought by foreigners. The citizens of the countries who like to invest in Turkey are: Iraq, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia.