Sales of residential properties in Türkiye slipped by almost 23% on annual basis in September, official data showed on Friday, with purchases by foreigners also falling despite an influx of Russian citizens.
Some 113,402 houses exchanged hands in September, a 22.9% drop from 147,143 units that were sold in the same month a year ago, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said. Month-over-month, the figure was down 8.17%.
Sales still rose by 11.4% from January through September, versus the same period a year ago, with more than 1 million houses exchanging hands, the data showed.
The data showed September mortgaged sales fell 43% from a year earlier to 16,970 units, the statistical institute said.
Sales to foreign buyers fell by 23.8% to 5,049 units last month, as they eased their purchases after a monthslong spree.
Sales were still nearly 32.5% higher than a year ago in the January-September period and amounted to 49,644 units.
Russians led foreign buyers both in September and in the first nine months, as they bought 1,196 and 9,311 units, respectively. The nine-month figure marked a 199% increase from a year ago.
The data reflected how many have Russians sought a financial haven in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the fallout of Western sanctions.
Wealthy Russians have been pouring money into real estate in Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid stifling Western sanctions, many property companies say.
Citizens from Ukraine lifted their real estate purchases by 125% year-over-year to 1,775 units in the first nine months.
Russians were followed by Iranians with 592 and Iraqis with 433 houses bought in September. Citizens from the two countries purchased 6,540 and 5,255 houses in the January-September period, respectively, the data showed.
Istanbul had the lion’s share of sales to foreign buyers at 1,795 units last month, followed by the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya with 1,585 units.
