Türkiye's residential property market maintained its upward trend in August, hitting a new peak for the year as demand remained strong despite high borrowing costs, official data showed Tuesday.
House sales rose 6.8% year-over-year to 143,319 units, the highest monthly level in 2025, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). That topped the second-highest July figure ever of 142,858 units.
The data underscored the resilience of the housing market despite tight monetary conditions and persistent inflationary pressures. In the first half of the year, monthly sales had ranged between 107,000 and 130,000 units.
In August, new home sales climbed 4.8% from a year earlier to 43,916 units, while second-hand transactions jumped 7.8% to 99,403 units.
The data showed mortgaged sales rose 45.2% on an annual basis to 19,712 units, making up 13.8% of total sales.
The country's largest and most populous city, Istanbul, once again led the market with 21,814 sales, followed by the capital Ankara with 12,419 and the Aegean city of Izmir with 7,695.
The figures came days after the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) cut its benchmark policy rate for the second consecutive month, as inflation continued to ease. The one-week repo rate was lowered by 250 basis points to 40.5%, following a 300-basis-point cut in July.
The pace of easing slowed as inflation fell less than expected in August, slipping to just below 33%. At the same time, data showed the economy expanded by a stronger-than-expected 4.8% year-over-year in the second quarter despite a prolonged tightening cycle.
The CBRT had raised its policy rate to 46% in April amid market volatility following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu on graft charges. Before that, the bank had begun a gradual easing cycle in December as inflation retreated from a peak of 75% in May 2024.
Meanwhile, home purchases by foreigners fell 19.8% in August to 1,810 units. Russians topped the list with 283 acquisitions, followed by Iranians with 155 and Germans with 118.
From January through August, total house sales reached 978,070 units, up 21.3% from the same period last year.
Mortgaged sales were up 84.6% to 141,227 units, while purchases by foreigners fell by 13.2% to 13,077 units.
Industry representatives say this year's sales are expected to surpass 1.5 million units, attributing it to persistent demand fueled by high rents and the fact that housing price increases currently remain below inflation.
In the whole of 2024, total home sales grew by 20.6% to about 1.48 million units, returning to levels last seen in 2022.
Separate data by CBRT on Tuesday showed housing prices continued to slow down in real terms despite nominal gains.
The Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) rose by 2.5% compared to July, the bank said.
The index, which measures quality-adjusted price changes of dwellings, recorded an annual increase of 31.4% in nominal terms, yet inflation-adjusted figures revealed a 1.2% decline.
The data marked the 19th consecutive month of decline in prices in real terms.
