Home sales in Türkiye neared 130,000 units, driven by a sharp rise in mortgage-backed purchases, registering their strongest monthly performance of 2026 and the highest June figure in four years, official data showed on Friday.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), total house sales rose almost 16% year-over-year last month to 129,979 units.
Sales of newly built homes climbed 23.1% to 43,406 units, while secondhand home sales rose 12.5% to 86,573 units.
Mortgaged home sales surged 72.1% year-over-year to 25,993 units, accounting for 20% of all transactions and reflecting stronger demand despite elevated borrowing costs.
However, cumulative home sales in the first six months of the year fell 3.1% from the same period of 2025 to 699,516 units. Mortgaged sales increased 32.2% to 142,794.
Separate data from the central bank on Friday showed Türkiye’s nationwide house price index rose 24.5% annually in June, below consumer inflation of just above 32%, indicating a continued decline in real house prices.
Sales to foreign buyers rose 20.1% year-over-year in June to 2,015. They declined 9.2% in the first half of the year to 9,083.
Industry representatives said the June rebound reflected resilient housing demand, although they cautioned that financing conditions remain a key constraint.
"The strongest June performance in the last four years shows that demand for housing remains robust," said Ziya Yılmaz, chair of the Housing Developers and Investors Association (KONUTDER).
He said some transactions delayed by the Eid al-Adha holiday in May were completed in June, contributing to the strong monthly figures.
Yılmaz also said the increase in firsthand home sales signaled improving demand for new housing, although such sales still accounted for around one-third of the market, well below levels seen before 2020.
He added that the sharp rise in mortgaged sales demonstrated that underlying housing demand and postponed purchases remained strong despite high mortgage rates.
Mustafa Kemal Şahin, head of the Real Estate Marketing and Sales Professionals Association (GAPAS), said the June figures suggested postponed demand was gradually returning to the market.
"The increase in firsthand sales is particularly encouraging because it points to renewed confidence in new housing projects and stronger sales performance by developers," he said.
Şahin added that high interest rates and limited access to financing weighed on the first-half performance, but described June's figures as an important sign of market normalization.
Sector representatives said a more sustained recovery would depend on easier access to financing, lower mortgage rates and policies supporting new housing supply, particularly for first-time homebuyers.
Developers also noted that installment plans and interest-free financing offered directly by construction companies have become an increasingly important alternative to bank mortgages.
Last month, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) held its one-week repo rate steady at 37% for a third consecutive meeting as it monitored the impact of the Iran war.
Supply shocks mainly due to the fallout from the conflict had pushed Türkiye's headline inflation higher in April and May, but June signaled the return of a downward trend.
The annual inflation eased to 32.1% last month from 32.6% in May. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.99% in June, slowing from 1.7% in May.
Since the conflict started, the CBRT has halted an easing cycle that began in late 2024 and taken other liquidity steps that pushed the Turkish lira overnight rate up to the 40% limit.
The CBRT raised its end-2026 inflation forecast to 24% from 16% in its quarterly inflation report published in mid-May, saying the short-term inflationary effects of the Iran war would remain "pronounced." The bank projects inflation falling to 15% at the end of 2027 and 9% at the end of 2028.
Data from the bank on Friday showed the Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) rose nearly 2% month-over-month in June and was up 24.5% from a year earlier in nominal terms.
Adjusted for inflation, however, house prices fell 5.8% year-over-year, marking the seventh consecutive monthly real decline.
After recording a 1.4% annual real increase in January 2024, house prices slipped back into negative territory in February of that year and have remained below inflation ever since, except for a marginal 0.3% real increase in November 2025.
The pace of real declines has accelerated in recent months, widening from 1.4% in December to 6.1% in May. The annual real decrease stood at 2.3% in January, 3.9% in February, 3.4% in March and 4.3% in April.
