House sales in Türkiye rose nearly 20% in December to cement a record year for the property market despite a tight monetary policy in place for over two-and-a-half years to tame inflation.
Sales totaled 254,777 units last month, a 19.8% year-over-year increase, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed on Tuesday.
That took the full-year figure to 1.68 million units, a new all-time high and a 14.3% increase from the previous year, according to the data.
The previous peak stood at 1.5 million in 2020, when aggressive mortgage campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic boosted demand. Sales totaled 1.48 million in 2024.
The provinces with the highest number of house sales throughout 2025 were Istanbul with 280,262 units, Ankara with 152,534 and Izmir with 96,998 homes.
The market remained resilient throughout last year despite elevated borrowing costs and persistent inflationary pressures.
Policymakers sharply raised interest rates since mid-2023 to rein in inflation, which peaked at about 75% in mid-2024, before beginning a gradual easing cycle, which brought the benchmark policy rate to 38% last month.
Annual inflation cooled to below 31% last month, the lowest rate since November 2021.
Analysts expect the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) to continue easing this year, which sector representatives say could add further momentum to the industry.
Tuesday's data showed mortgaged sales rose 25.2% year-over-year to 29,149 units in December, bringing the annual figure to 236,668, a 49.3% increase from the previous year.
Meanwhile, data on Monday showed housing prices in Türkiye registered a second consecutive annual decline in real terms in 2025.
The Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) rose by 0.2% in December compared to the previous month, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said.
The index, which measures quality-adjusted price changes of dwellings, recorded an annual increase of 29% in nominal terms. Inflation-adjusted figures revealed a 1.4% decline. The index had dropped by 10.4% in real terms in 2024.
Meanwhile, the TurkStat data showed house sales to foreigners increased by 5.1% in December to 2,541 units.
By nationality, the highest number of homes was sold to Russian citizens, with 504 units. Russia was followed by Iranian citizens with 232 homes and Ukrainians with 193 houses.
Over the whole of 2025, sales to foreigners declined by 9.4% year-over-year to 21,534 units. Russians topped the foreign buyers list with 3,649 units, followed by Iranians with 1,878, and Ukrainians with 1,541 units.
