House sales in Türkiye soared 56.6% on an annual basis in April, the country’s statistical bureau said on Friday, despite elevating borrowing costs as authorities tightened policy to bring inflation down.
A total of 118,359 houses were sold last month, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), with mortgaged sales more than doubling.
That marked the highest sales level so far this year and came during a month that saw the Turkish central bank deliver a surprise interest rate hike.
The 350-basis-point rate increase lifted its benchmark one-week repo rate to 46% after the Turkish lira and assets fell sharply following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu. He was jailed in late March on corruption charges pending a trial.
Rate hikes typically lift borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
Before April, the central bank had gradually cut its key policy rate from December and lowered it to 42.5% in early March as inflation eased.
The annual growth rate in prices slowed to 37.9% last month, the lowest level since December 2021.
Mortgage sales jumped 147% on an annual basis in April to 17,465, accounting for 14.8% of all house sales, the TurkStat said.
They grew by 99.4% in the first four months to 69,194 units.
Sales of new houses rose 43.8% to reach 34,633 in April, while secondhand sales grew 62.6% year-over-year to 83,726.
From January through April, total sales climbed nearly 28% from a year ago to 454,145 units.
In the whole of 2024, sales grew by 20.6% to about 1.48 million units, returning to levels last seen in 2022. Mortgage sales had dropped 10.8% as a strict policy campaign kept borrowing costs high.
The metropolis of Istanbul took the lion's share with sales of 18,645 units in April, followed by the capital Ankara with 10,889, and the Aegean city of Izmir with 7,014, the data showed.
Sales to foreigners rose 13.2% year-over-year to 1,440 units. Most were purchased by citizens of Russia (276 units), Iran (128), and Ukraine (120).
Sales in the first four months were still down 13.5% from a year ago at 6,018 units. They had tumbled 32.1% in the whole of 2024.
