Nearly 113,000 homes were sold across Türkiye last month, up approximately 20% compared to the same period a year ago, official data showed on Thursday, indicating that although momentum in the market persists it continued at a slower pace compared to the recent months.
Some 112,818 houses were sold in the country in February, up 20.1% year-over-year, according to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
Istanbul took the lion's share with sales of 19,347 units, followed by the capital Ankara with 10,791 and Izmir with 6,899, TurkStat said.
The figure was close to that in January when 112,173 housing units exchanged hands, nearly 40% more compared to January of 2024 but much lower compared to record-breaking 212,637 in December.
That month, the Turkish central bank cut its key interest rate by 250 basis points, reversing an 18-month tightening drive.
Rate hikes typically lift borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
Before that, there was an upward momentum in the sales between July and November last year.
During the January-February period, house sales totaled 224,991 units, increasing 29.1% versus the same period in 2024.
The mortgaged house sales surged by 90.1% in February compared to the same month of the previous year to 16,778 units. The first two-month mortgage sales meanwhile were up 127.3% on an annual basis, totaling 33,504 units.
Foreigners bought 1,457 houses in Türkiye last month, down 21.1% and accounting for a 1.3% share of all house sales in February, TurkStat said.
The provinces with the highest number of house sales to foreigners were Istanbul with 539 units, Antalya with 503 and Mersin with 89, respectively.
For January-February cumulatively, the sales to foreigners stood at 3,004, down 23.1% compared to the same period of 2024.
In February, most house sales by nationality were made to citizens of Russia, Iran, and Iraq, followed by Azerbaijan and Ukraine, the data revealed.
