The sales of residential properties in Turkey increased by 8.9% over the January-April period, lifted by sales with mortgages, the national statistical body announced Friday.
Overall house sales reached 383,821 in the first four months, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data. Across the four-month period, sales of mortgaged houses increased by 141.4%, reaching 146,387 units, data showed.
"And in other types of sales, it was 237,434 and decreased by 18.6%," it added.
Residential properties sold for the first time in this period came to 122,280, down 16%, while secondhand housing sales were 261,541, posting a 26.4% increase.
In the January-April period, housing sales to foreigners were 11,738, falling by 12% versus the same period last year.
Meanwhile, overall sales in April fell by 55% year-on-year to 42,783, the institute said.
The country’s biggest metropolis, Istanbul, remained the most popular location with a share of 14.3% of overall house sales. Some 6,113 houses exchanged hands in the city last month.
It was followed by the capital Ankara with 4,500 housing sales and the Aegean province of İzmir, with 2,533 houses sold. Their shares were 10.5% and 5.9%, respectively.
Sales to foreigners decreased by 78.8% in the month compared to the same month last year, totaling 790.
In March, the figures revealed Iranians topped the list of buyers with 157 houses, followed by Iraqis with 103, Russians with 61, Afghans with 54 and Chinese citizens with 40.
Nearly 1.35 million housing units were sold in the country in 2019, while up to 45,500 houses were bought by foreigners, seeing a 14.7% increase compared to the previous year.
Industry representatives have said the drop in April was temporary and that sales and investments would gain momentum in the summer, expressing hopes about a positive performance for the second half of the year.
"The mobility will speed up in the summer months starting as of June," Özyurtlar Holding Chairman Tamer Özyurt said.
The senior manager of Bahaş Holding, Abdüssamet Bahadir, also said sales would increase in the summer months as steps toward normalization gain momentum amid the pandemic.