Home sales in Türkiye dropped to the lowest level in nearly a year in January, official data showed Friday as months of rising rates and inflation have weighed over demand, with purchases by foreigners sliding by half compared to the same period last year.
House sales declined 17.8% in January from a year earlier to 80,308, according to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) while sales to foreign citizens were down 50.5% year-over-year last month.
The Turkish central bank delivered eight consecutive interest rate hikes since the shift in policymaking last June, lifting the benchmark policy rate to 45% from 8.5%, although it signaled in the last monetary policy meeting it has ended the tightening drive.
The country's most populous city Istanbul took the lead with the highest share (16.7%) or 13,423 house sales in January, TurkStat said, and was followed by the capital Ankara which accounted for 8.4% sold units or 6,709 homes and Mediterranean province Antalya with 6.5% share or 5,250 units, respectively.
The data also showed that mortgaged house sales in Türkiye decreased by 63.5% in January compared to the same month of the previous year and became 5,915, with these sales accounting for 7.4% of total sales.
With a decline of 50.5% house sales to foreigners stood at 2,061 units or 2.6% of all sales last month, the data showed. Antalya ranked first totaling approximately a third of the sales with 747 units, followed by Istanbul with 710 and southern Mersin province with 211 house sales to foreigners.
Russians again topped the list of foreign buyers, purchasing 555 homes in January, still reflecting how many have sought a financial haven in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions.
Following Russian citizens were Iranians with 208 house sales and Ukrainians with 127 house sales, while citizens of Iraq and Kazakhstan both purchased 99 houses in Türkiye in January.
Last year, home sales were down 17.5% with sales to foreigners tumbling by 48.1%.
